The new tournament
by bonesgadh
Summary: 7 months have passed since the Bellas won the World Championship of a Cappella. Beca and Jesse live together and their years as a Cappella singers seem to be in the past, but one day Jesse receives a call from Gail Abernathy-McKadden who invites them both to participate in a brand new tournament. I suck at summaries, read it and judge yourselves. Rated T for language, just in case.
1. The call

**A/N: Hi guys! So this is my first PP fanfic, it features mostly Beca, Jesse, Aubrey and Chloe but there are also other characters like Emily, Benji, Bumper, Stacie, Fat Amy among others. It takes place a few months after PP2. I'd like to thank in advance all of you for readying it and leave your comments and reviews, if you want to see something special just let me know, okay? Depending on the success I will post chapter two in a couple of days.**

 **Thank you :)**

* * *

It was like any other Sunday morning at Jesse Swanson and Beca Mitchell's home in Atlanta. Although it was already 11:30 a.m., Beca was still peacefully sleeping at the bed she had shared with her boyfriend for 7 months, since the two of them decided to move in together after he returned from his work trip to LA and she last performed with the Barden Bellas at the World Championship of a Capella, winning the event. A long time had passed from that, and it seemed like their years as a Capella singers had happened decades ago. Now Beca, who worked at the _Residual Heat Record Label_ , still dreamed of becoming a musical producer. She had a long way ahead, but had already moved on from an intern position to producer assistant really quick, and she was proud of herself for that. Jesse, her boyfriend for almost 4 years, was a complete music and movies freak and dreamed of becoming a film score composer someday. He had already done some low budget projects in LA a few months ago at the same time Beca was getting ready for the World Championship, and they were forced to have a long distance relationship for a while. A week after his return they got themselves an apartment and moved in together, and they had just spent their first Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Eve at their new home.

That morning was cold, like most of January's mornings. Jesse had gotten up early and was making breakfast at the kitchen, although he was having a difficult time with the stove as the gas was starting to run off. He was wearing an old, purple Rolling Stones t-shirt, black sweatpants and white snickers. His struggle was real as he was trying to finish cooking some pancakes on the cheap stove, but he managed to get them fully cooked before the flame got extinguished. He put them in two plates (one for him, one for Beca), poured some coffee in a couple of cups, heated some bread at the microwave and sat at the table with everything ready to eat at the moment Beca decided to get up. It wasn't a restaurant-quality breakfast, but they were already used to each other's poor cooking skills.

Their home was a small, one room apartment, which walls and doors were all painted in white and had a wooden floor. The living room had two blue sofas and an armchair the same color, and an impeccable glass table was at the center. The dining room consisted of four chairs around a small table in which Jesse was already sitting. There was a fridge, a stove, an oven and a microwave at the kitchen, besides a couple of worktops and cupboards. A small bathroom with a toilet, a shower and a sink was located in front of the only bedroom in the place, one which had a King-sized bed with lots of pillows and warm blankets that were well used during movie nights and winter. A middle size closet and a TV completed the scenario.

Jesse was still waiting for Beca when his phone started ringing over the table.

 _That's odd._ He said to himself as he picked it up. _Who could it be on a Sunday?_

He didn't recognize the number but decided to answer anyway.

"Hello?"

"Good morning." A female voice answered back on the other side of the line. "Could I speak with Mr. Jesse Swanson, please?"

There was something familiar about the woman's voice, but Jesse couldn't link it to someone on particular.

"That would be me. Who is this?"

"Gail Abernathy-McKadden from the ICCA."

In that moment, it got clear.

"Right! You are the commentator, aren't you?"

"Yes. How are you doing, Mr. Swanson?"

"Oh please, call me Jesse. What can I do for you, Mrs. Abernathy?" he was intrigued as to which was the reason behind her call.

"You'll see Jesse, I'm speaking in behalf of the ICCA to invite you to participate in a special event we are planning to take place later in the spring."

In that moment Beca appeared in the dining room, still sleepy but with her face all washed up and her hair tighten up in a ponytail. She was wearing a grey sweatshirt and pants of the same color, and was barefoot. Her dark blue eyes, although tired, were already sparkling with cunning and ingenuity. She was yawning when she gently kissed Jesse in the head. She noticed he was speaking with someone on the phone so she sat in the chair in front of him and started drinking her coffee.

"A special event? Of what type?"

"I would prefer to discuss the details personally if you don't mind, to effectively clear out any doubts that might surface."

"Okay then, as you wish."

"Now, I understand you are in a relationship with Ms. Beca Mitchell?"

"I am. Why do you ask?" Jesse was starting to feel really curious about the whole thing.

"She is also invited to participate in the project. Are you two available for dinner today? Say, 6:30 p.m.?" Jesse quickly looked at his watch, which read 12:05 p.m. He then looked at Beca, who was heavily concentrated in finishing her coffee as if it were a contest.

"Yeah, sure! Where do we see you?"

"Excellent! What about "The Optimist" at Downtown Atlanta?"

"Well…" Jesse didn't know what to say, as it was a fancy restaurant and he and Beca were on a tight budget. "You'll see Mrs. Abernathy, the thing is at this moment we aren't exactly loaded with money, so…"

"Oh, don't worry about that my child! I'm really interested in getting you on this project, so tell you what? It's on me."

"That's really not necessary…"

"Nonsense! I'll see you both at 6:30 at "The Optimist", okay?"

Jesse couldn't help but smile at the woman's insistence. Instead of annoying him, there was something about her mysterious enthusiasm that was contagious.

"Okay, we'll see you then."

"Don't be late." Immediately after saying that she hanged off the phone, at the same time Beca put down her empty cup.

"Hey freak! (he used to call her that way since their freshman year) Sorry about that." Jesse said, as he threw his phone to the sofa and leaned forward to give her a kiss on the lips.

"Who was it?" she asked him.

"Gail Abernathy-McKadden, from the ICCA."

Beca looked at him, curious.

"The commentator? What did she want?"

"To invite us to participate in a special event later in the spring."

"An a Capella event?"

"I don't know, she wouldn't say. Although I guess it has something to do with it, otherwise why would she be the one calling? She said she preferred to discuss it personally, so we are meeting her for dinner at 6:30 at "The Optimist"."

"That's fancy."

"She insisted. I'm really curious about what this might all be about."

"Maybe they want us to be judges at this year's Nationals."

"Maybe."

After a few seconds of silence Beca looked at their breakfast and couldn't stop herself from laughing.

"I thought we had decided not to try cooking ever again."

"I know, I know! It's just I couldn't help it. Just try it and tell me what you think; a hundred percent honest."

She took her knife and fork and cut a small piece of the pancake. She ate it and her face remained neutral. After passing it out, she stared at him.

"Well, what do you think?"

"Do you want me to lie because I'm your girlfriend?"

"Absolutely not."

Beca smiled and leaned forward to give him a kiss.

"You are such a weirdo."


	2. The invitation

**A/N: Hi! So this is chapter two, in which Gail formally invites Jesse and Beca to a new a Capella competition. R &R, hope you enjoy it and leave your comments! :)**

* * *

"The Optimist" was one of the nicest restaurants in Atlanta located in Downtown, which specialty was sea food. Gail Abernathy-McKadden was already waiting for Jesse and Beca when they arrived. She was wearing a green suit and had her blonde hair picked up in a ponytail. She welcomed them both as if they were a group of friends who hadn't seen each other in a long time.

"Beca! Jesse! It's so good to see you again!" She said, although they had only talked in a couple of occasions. However, Beca greeted her with the same enthusiasm.

"It's always a pleasure Gail, how are you doing?" She asked, while they all took a seat.

"Oh, working like crazy; a little here, a little there. Same stuff as always."

"I imagine you must be very busy with the Nationals coming up" Jesse said, while checking out the menu.

"Darling, didn't you hear? There's not going to be a competition this year."

Jesse and Beca looked at her, visibly surprised.

"What? No Finals?"

"Why?" Beca asked.

In that moment a waiter came in and interrupted their conversation to take their order. Jesse and Beca ordered cornmeal crusted snapper and blackened cobia respectively, while Gail asked for a bottle of wine, scallops as entry and duck fat poached swordfish. After the waiter left, Beca resumed their conversation.

"So, why is there not going to be a competition this year?"

"You'll see Beca, that's why I wanted to talk with you. Both of you. The ICCA is organizing a very special event for this year, and we would like you to participate."

"What is it?" Jesse asked, very curious.

Gail took a long sip from her glass of wine, enjoying their uncertainty. She cleaned up her lips with a napkin before saying anything.

""The Ultimate National College a Capella Team Championship."" She finally said, proudly.

"I'm sorry, what?" Beca asked.

""The Ultimate National College a Capella Team Championship."" She said again, while Jesse and Beca looked at each other, confused.

"Wow, that's really long!" Jesse finally said, nervously.

"I know, we are working on it to make it shorter" Gail said, while drinking more wine.

"I'm still confused. How exactly would we participate on this little "project"?" Beca asked.

"That's the interesting part. Now listen up, because this is really important, okay?" They both nodded and Gail continued. "We want you guys to create a team made up only by the best a Capella singers Barden has ever seen. You'll have two months to do so because in March we are having our first knockout –Locals, in which you will face other schools from Georgia and only three teams advance to the next round –Regionals, due in mid-April, with only two teams advancing to the Finals which are set to take place during the first week of June. Your team must have 22 members including yourselves, the number of men/women is irrelevant. Now, Barden has four a Capella teams: The BU Harmonics, The High Notes, The Treblemakers and The Bellas. Trebles and Bellas are the best of the best so naturally your team will be composed mostly by them. However, in order for your team to be inclusive, it must have at least two members from the BU and the Notes. In each stage of the competition you will be allow to sing either a 4-to-7 minute song or a mashup that lasts the same amount of time; that´s up to you. The same rules from the ICCAs apply to this competition, specially that you can't use any instruments and all of the team members must be graduates (or current students) from Barden University, without exceptions." She stopped and took a moment to contemplate their reaction. Jesse was visibly interested but Beca seemed skeptic. "Now, do you have any doubts?"

"Let me see if I get this right: you want us to assemble some sort of "Dream Team"?" She asked.

"It's a way of calling it."

""The Barden University All-Star Team"?"

"The best of the best the school has ever seen, the a Capella royalty from Barden."

"Both of us? By ourselves?"

"Well, of course you can get someone to help you with past generations."

"Can I ask a question?" Jesse said, rising his hand. "Why did you pick us to do this? Specially us?"

"Because you are the most recent Trebles captain. And you Beca, you guided the girls to three National Championships and a World Championship, something no one had ever done before. You actually made the Bellas likeable, and that's a lot to say." Right then the waiter came with the scallops. She grabbed one and invited them both to eat too. They both took one and ate it; it tasted really good.

"Let's suspend reality for a second and pretend we accept. All of us have already graduated, we have jobs, we have different lives. What if the others just don't want to be a part of an a Capella team again? I mean, have you considered that possibility? Besides, you are forgetting that Trebles and Bellas hate each other. It's been a twenty-year rivalry, they are not going to cooperate with each other that easily."

"Is it a problem for you to work with a Treble? Is that what you are trying to tell us?"

Beca looked at her, visibly angry at her assumption.

"What? No! Of course not."

Gail raised her eyebrow suspiciously, as if she doubted her. Beca couldn't stop herself from laughing.

"Come on, Jesse is my boyfriend and he was a Treble, I obviously don't give a crap about that stupid rivalry. However, I would like to see you try to make Aubrey work with any Treble, especially Bumper."

Jesse, who hadn't said anything in a while, jumped into the conversation.

"Oh, so now are talking about who is going to be a member of the team?"

"Jesse shut up, okay?"

"I'm just saying…"

"No, don't say anything!"

"Okay enough!" Gail said. Beca mentally thanked her, as she hated arguing with Jesse in public. "So, what do you say? Are you in or out?"

Beca looked at Jesse, who seemed pretty enthusiastic. After a brief moment of silence, he offered his hand to Gail.

"I'm in." He finally said.

"Wonderful!" She said, as they both shook hands. She then looked at Beca. "What about you?"

Beca didn't say anything. The idea attracted her more than she wanted to admit, but she didn't want to go back to the world of a Capella because, after all, they say it's better to leave the party while you are still having fun; and hell she had said goodbye to it with a bang, winning the World Championship.

"Come on Beca, you know you want it! Don't do it because Jesse said yes. Think about all the fun you had while being a Bella. Think about the competitions, the choreographies, the practices, all the laughs with your friends. I mean you said it yourself at your interview after the World Championship: "When I look back at this I won't remember performing and competing, I'm gonna remember my girls." Give yourself the chance of having one last gig. What do you say?"

Beca looked at her, and then looked at Jesse. Gail's words made an impact on her, and suddenly all her memories of her time as a Bella started forming in her mind. The first Riff-Off, their first National Championship, becoming World Champions…

"Okay, I'm in." She said, and also shook hands with Gail. The three of them smiled as the waiter brought over their food.

"Welcome back to the world of a Capella, kids." Gail said, as they all started eating.


	3. Putting the team together

**A/N: Hi again! So here's chapter 3, enjoy :)**

* * *

Beca and Jesse left "The Optimist" at 8:30 p.m., not before thanking Gail for thinking of them. They hadn't brought the car (it was actually Jesse's car but they both used it without restrictions) because they enjoyed walking to any place they could. Right now their decision seemed fitting, as there was a lot to talk about.

"So who do you think we should call first to help us to put the team together?" Jesse asked.

"Definitely Aubrey… and Chloe… and Emily. Maybe Fat Amy, too." She answered, as she rubbed her hands because of the cold weather.

"What about the guys?"

"You know them better, who do you think will be a good help?"

"Benji."

"Definitely."

"Bumper."

"Not so much."

"Donald."

"Yep, that's it."

Jesse was aware that Beca had never liked Bumper or Donald, even when they were the boyfriends of two of her closest friends. _She is right, though. Bumper is talented but also quite of an ass_. As a matter of fact she practically didn't like any of Jesse's Treble friends, except for Benji. _She's a Bella after all, it's in her nature to dislike Trebles_.

"Wait, wasn't Aubrey running that boot camp? What was its name? "The Lodge of Poor Unfortunate Souls"?"

Beca laughed at Jesse's goofiness.

""The Lodge of Fallen Leaves"."

"Right. So you think she will accept your invitation despite her job?"

"Hah! After graduating she said she was done with a Capella singing but I know Aubrey, the only thing she loves more than screaming at people is singing. She will say yes, I can assure you."

"What about Chloe?"

"She more than anyone will accept. She is my best friend and all but she didn't graduate for 3 years in order to stay with the Bellas. She will be happy to do it."

They both kept walking in silence for a couple of blocks, arm in arm.

"I can't believe we are doing this." Jesse said after a while.

"Me neither."

"You know? I think this actually might be fun!"

Beca stopped walking and looked at him.

"What do you mean with "fun"?"

"Think for a moment, we have always been rivals because you were a Bella and I was a Treble, right?" Beca nodded. "Now, for once in our lives, we get to be in the same team! Isn't that awesome?"

Beca couldn't help but smile at Jesse's excitement. To be honest she hadn't thought about it but now that he had mentioned it, the whole thing indeed sounded like fun. And not only because she was going to be able to work with her boyfriend, but also because at last all of that shitty "rivalry" was about to come to an end. And she, for one, couldn't wait.

"Yeah, it will be awesome." She said, and they both kissed in the middle of the street.

* * *

The next day was a Monday, but Beca and Jesse had no time to loose so they started making calls first thing in the morning. They decided Beca was calling the girls and Jesse was calling the boys.

First Beca called Chloe.

"Hi Chloe! It's Beca. How're you doing?"

Then Jesse called Bumper.

"Hey Bumper, it's Jesse. How are you, man? I know you have been busy with your new album and everything, but I would like to see if you are interested in a little project…"

After which Beca called Emily.

"I'm good, thanks. Hey listen Emily, I need your help for something…"

And then Aubrey.

"We are meeting tomorrow at the empty dance studio…"

And finally, Jesse called Benji.

"Yeah, where the Bellas rehearse."

They briefly told them what the call was about and agreed to meet at 4:00 p.m. at the empty dance studio in which the Bellas rehearsed. When they arrived at 3:50 p.m., Aubrey and Chloe were already there. Beca was really glad to see them and they hugged. When they broke the hug, she couldn't help but smile at her friends.

All her life Beca had heard of the kind of friendship between two people in which both of them are inseparable, and you can't really picture one without the other. However she had never actually seen it until she met Aubrey and Chloe. They both had been friends for years, although Aubrey's obsessive personality clashed with Chloe's more open-minded views of the world. They were both very enthusiastic about the idea of going back to an a Capella competition and accepted Beca's offer immediately, as she had predicted.

"Wow girls, it's so good to see you again!" Beca said, visibly happy. "Aubrey, you look great! And Chloe… what can I say? You both look amazing, girls."

And it was true. Aubrey, the control freak (and also former Bellas' captain), had realized she was rather good at shouting orders at people so had decided to make a living of it by running a boot camp. She had let her large, blonde hair loose, and the long hours of exercise had paid off, as she looked fitter than ever. She was wearing a blue blouse and a pair of jeans, and black boots. Although she and Beca had had a rough start, they grew fond of each other and eventually became good friends. Aubrey respected Beca's natural leadership abilities and Beca admired the passion and determination Aubrey put on everything she did.

Chloe, on the other hand, was a sweet and sensitive young woman who had delayed her graduation in order to remain a Bella until Beca and her other friends graduated. After that she became a singing teacher at a local elementary school. She was wearing a red blouse, black jeans and brown boots. Her red hair, longer than ever, ran loose all through her back. Her blue eyes radiated energy and enthusiasm, and her positive attitude and disposition were always contagious. She was Beca's best friend and right hand when she was the Bellas' captain, and also her confident.

"Thanks Beca." Aubrey said, with a smile.

"I can't believe we are doing this again!" Chloe added. "I mean, I thought with us graduating all of this was coming to an end."

"I know, but life takes many turns."

In that moment Jesse, who had stayed behind, approached and greeted them.

"Chloe, nice to have you around. And it's always a pleasure to see you again, Aubrey."

"You too, Jesse, especially since you are no longer wearing that awful Trebles sweatshirt."

"Not for long. I guess Beca told you what this little reunion was about."

"Yeah, I'll guess I'll have to make an effort."

They proceeded to take a seat. Right in that moment Donald, Bumper, Emily and Benji arrived. Donald was wearing his characteristic glasses, and Beca hoped he were still the best at beatboxing. Bumper, the generally nasty former leader of the Trebles, had made himself a name in the music industry after being a participant in _The Voice_. Although it was technically "forbidden" for Bellas and Trebles to be in a relationship with each other, both Donald and Bumper were the boyfriends of Lily and Fat Amy respectively. And so was the case of Emily and Benji, who had met the previous year when she was a freshman and instantly fell in love with each other. Now Emily was the new leader of the Bellas, and had decided to continue Beca's legacy in the group.

They all said hi to each other, although Aubrey did it with not a lot of enthusiasm.

"What's the matter Aubrey? Aren't you happy to see your old friend Bumper?" he teased her. Donald laughed, while Aubrey looked at him with serial killer's eyes.

"Since when you and I are friends?"

"Well it doesn't matter anymore, from now on you'll have to be nice because, after all, we are part of the same team now, aren't we? Your dream come true. Just don't choke on the idea."

Aubrey was about to say something else but Jesse interrupted their little argument.

"Guys! Stop it! We are all here because we have a common cause, don't we? We have to leave the rivalries and the hate behind if we are to succeed so please, enough with the teasing Bumper."

The former leaders stared at each other with hate one last time, until Beca took the word.

"Okay. First of all I want to thank you for coming. I understand you all have other stuff to do and I appreciate your interest in the project. Second, as you know we need to create a team made up only by the best a Capella singers Barden has ever seen. That team must include members from The Bellas, The Trebles, The BU Harmonics and The High Notes."

"Why? I mean, the DUs can't sing something that's not Madonna and the High Notes spend all of their time smoking weed." Donald said.

"Not all of them." Chloe pointed out, as Bumper laughed. "The BUs won a couple of Riff-Offs back in the day and The High Notes have had a bunch of really good members over the years. I'm sure we can find someone decent if we look close enough."

"Anyway." Beca continued. "We will deal with that latter. Right now what we need is to start from somewhere. Donald, Bumper, Benji and Jesse will focus on thinking of past and present Trebles that you think we can add to the team, while Aubrey, Chloe, Emily and I do the same with Bellas. Do you agree?" Everyone nodded. "Any doubts, suggestions?" No one said anything. "Okay then, let's start with the recruitment."


	4. The former leader

**A/N: Hi! I got a lot of free time so I decided to post two chapters in the same day as I probably won't have a lot of time over the weekend. A new chapter will be available on Monday. As always R &R and thank you for the interest you have shown on my story :) Enjoy!**

* * *

"Where's Fat Amy? I thought you said you would call her." asked Chloe, as the four of them sat in some chairs.

"I did, but she went to Australia for the holidays; she'll be back next week." Beca answered.

"That's a pity, I was looking forward to seeing her again." said Emily.

"Don't worry, she'll be here. Now let's get it going." Beca took out a little notebook and a pen. "Which girls from our group do you think we should get in?"

"How many people did you say had to be on the team?" Aubrey asked.

"Twenty two, including Jesse and me. With Bumper, Donald, Benji and you three we are already eight."

"Nine with Fat Amy." Emily pointed out.

"Ten, I talked to Lily and she's also in." Beca added.

"Stacie and Cynthia-Rose have to be on it, too." Chloe said. Beca wrote everything on her notebook.

"Twelve already, we are half-way there." She made a little pause to order her thoughts. "Who else?"

"What about Jessica and Ashley?" Aubrey asked.

"I talked to them but they said they weren't interested."

"Oh, that's too bad!" Chloe said. "What about Flo?"

"She went back to Guatemala." Emily answered.

"Well, I guess that would be all from our generation." Beca said. "What about your girls, Emily?"

Emily didn't answer right away. She remained quiet for a few seconds, thinking.

"Emily?" Beca asked again.

"I don't know, Beca." she finally said. "I mean, let's be honest, you guys are the standard; they are all good performers but no one is as good as you."

Aubrey, Chloe and Beca couldn't help but smile at Emily's compliment.

"But there must be someone special, right?" said Chloe.

"Well there are a couple of girls that are pretty good, they stand out from the others. I'm gonna ask them if they are interested. Her names are Hannah and Mindy."

"Okay then, so we have two potential new members" Beca wrote their names down on the list.

"Tell you what? I'm gonna ask them right now. I'll be back later." Emily said, and then left the building.

"Well, now it's your turn." Beca said, while turning to Aubrey and Chloe.

"What do you want us to do first?" Chloe asked, as cooperative as always.

"You two are some sort of Barden Bellas official biographers, aren't you?" They both laughed. "Well, I want you guys to help me scout previous Bellas. You saw, what? Three generations more than me? Surely there were lots of good singers in those."

Aubrey and Chloe looked at each other, uncomfortable.

"Well…" Aubrey said.

"What?" A rather awkward moment of silence came next.

"The truth is, although the Bellas have existed for a long time, there were barely any good members until a few years ago." Chloe finally said, mortified.

Beca laughed, but immediately shut up after realizing it was not a joke.

"Come on guys, are you telling me that in 40 years there is no one worth mentioning but us? At all?"

Again the two friends looked at each other, visibly embarrassed.

"Are you kidding me?"

"We truly were a golden generation, one in a kind." Aubrey said. Beca couldn't believe it.

"Come on girls, think!" Beca insisted. "There must be at least one. Aubrey, don't fail me on this one."

Aubrey stood up and started walking in circles, followed closely by Chloe. After a brief moment, Aubrey turned to look at Beca. It seemed for her expression that she had a girl in mind.

"I have someone! What about Alice?" Chloe immediately looked at her, fiercely.

"You can't be serious." She said. Beca was confused.

"Alice? Who is her?" She asked.

"Come on Chloe, you know she's good!"

"I don't care how good she is, it's out of the question."

"Guys..." Beca tried to intervene, although she soon realized they weren't listening to her anymore.

"Just because she was a little bit obsessed with order doesn't mean…"

""A little bit obsessed", you say? She was crazy!"

"Guys..."

"I know you never liked her, but…"

"Don't be a hypocrite, Aubrey. You hated her guts and she hated yours, too!"

"There's a thing called objectivity, you should try it from time to time!"

"Guys, knock it off!" Beca screamed. Aubrey and Chloe stopped arguing and looked at her. "Thanks. Now, can you please tell me who the hell is Alice?"

Although she was visibly angry, Chloe was the one that cleared it out for her.

"She was the Bellas' captain when Aubrey and I first got into the group. A real bitch."

"Chloe!" Aubrey yelled, trying to stop her. However, Chloe continued with her burst of anger.

"I'm sorry Aubrey, but she WAS a bitch. She might have been the one that recruited us but she was also a crazy-ass perfectionist who turned the Bellas into her little army of monkeys."

"Oh my God." Aubrey mouthed. Beca rose an eyebrow.

"Really?"

"Yeah. Ask Aubrey, even when she's trying to re-write history and pretend they were the best of friends. Alice treated her like shit, she treated all of us like shit!"

"Aubrey? Is there anything you'd like to say?" Beca asked her, as Chloe sat on her chair and crossed her arms.

"It's true she had her temper, but what she did for the Bellas was groundbreaking." Chloe growled from her corner, but Aubrey ignored her. "The group sucked before Alice arrived. It had never won anything, it was terribly organized, there wasn't a stablished hierarchy and there was no strategy to follow; she changed all of that when she became a Bella on her freshman year. She made herself captain, keep the Bellas' uniforms but gave us new songs, new choreography…"

"So she's the one that came up with the "The Sign/Eternal Flame/Turn the Beat Around" mashup?"

Aubrey nodded. _I could bet she's the one that created the oath, too_. Beca said to herself.

"She also created the oath…"

 _There, I knew it_.

"…got rid of all the sophomores, juniors and seniors and formed a new team from scratch."

"That's when she recruited you two?"

"That happened the following year. She even was the one that determined that the Pitch Pipe was to be carried around by the leader, she turned it into some sort of "symbol" of authority."

In that moment an idea crossed through Beca's mind.

"Wait, don't tell me she's the one that wrote the Bella Building Blocks…"

"Yes. Although Chloe and I made some modifications she practically wrote the whole thing."

"Wow, I didn't know that! Damn, she was really important to the group!" Beca said, visibly impressed. In that moment, Chloe angrily stood up.

"No, no, no, no, don't fall for it Beca! Yes, she might have been the one that leaded the Bellas to a National Championship for the first time and the first actual leader of the group, but that doesn't stop her from being a…"

"…a bitch, yeah. You've said it already!" Aubrey said, visibly exasperated.

"She always told me my breath smelled like egg."

"Which it did…" Aubrey said in a whisper, but it didn't go unnoticed by Chloe.

"I had freaking nodules!"

Beca was starting to get tired of Aubrey and Chloe's discussion, so her mind started drifting towards a possible solution to the problem until she completely managed to isolate her friends' voices, who kept arguing in the distance. If that girl Alice was as good as Aubrey said then Beca definitely had to try to get her into the team; on the other hand, although she considered herself to be pretty good when it came to dealing with bitches, for the way Chloe depicted this particular one she seemed like a special case.

 _What to do?_ She started saying in her mind. _What to do?_ In that moment, it all became crystal clear. Of course! How couldn't she think of that before? It was a brilliant idea! She slowly came back to present time, in which Aubrey and Chloe were still driving each other crazy.

"Hey!" She yelled, and successfully shouted them down. "Listen up, I've got a better idea. What if we invite your little friend to the auditions?"

Aubrey and Chloe looked at each other, and then at Beca again.

"Auditions?" They said at the same time, confused.

"Yes, auditions." Beca said, giving them her mischievous smile.


	5. The auditions

**A/N: Here's chapter 5, "The auditions". Hope you enjoy it! Your reviews help me improve as a writer :)**

* * *

"It's pretty simple" She had told her friends. "Aubrey wants her in the team, Chloe doesn't. I'm only interested in her talent, so let's see if she's still the amazing performer she once was. If she messes it up then we call on one of Emily's girls. If she still has it, then she's in. Do you agree?"

Chloe was not very happy with Beca's decision, but eventually had to admit it was a good solution to the problem.

Beca was really happy with how things had come up. Jesse and the guys had thought of three past Trebles, but they only had twelve secure members of twenty-two so the auditions came in like a blessing. They still had to get people from The BU Harmonics and The High Notes, so she wasn't preoccupied. With help from Bumper, Aubrey and the Barden Alumni Association, both her and Jesse spread the news that they were calling past and present members from the four a Capella groups to audition to be a part of the "Barden University a Capella Dream Team", as Jesse called it. Their call had been pretty successful, and more than twenty former and present students had gathered at the campus auditorium where the auditions took place every year. It had taken almost two weeks to organize and they were already on a tight schedule, but Beca and Jesse were very satisfied with how things had turned out.

Beca, Jesse, Aubrey, Chloe, Bumper, Donald, Emily and Benji were going to preside over the auditions. There were also with them Fat Amy, Cynthia-Rose, Stacie and Lily, the four of them had accepted the invitation with lots of enthusiasm.

"Whoa! This guys from the ICCA can't really get over us, right?" Said Fat Amy when she first arrived. "It wasn't enough that we kicked DSM's ass, they want us to kick USC, Berklee and Brigham's too?" Everybody laughed. Besides Barden, those three schools were the other a Capella powers in the country. It was surely not going to be easy to beat them but Beca was confident, winning the World Championship also looked impossible back in the time and they had managed to do it anyway against all odds.

The auditions were set to start at 1:00 p.m., and Beca was backstage getting everything ready. In that moment Aubrey, Chloe, Fat Amy, Stacie, Cynthia-Rose and Lily appeared.

"Hey! How's everything going on?" She asked them.

Chloe handed her a list of the people that were going to audition.

"Pretty good, actually. We have 10 open spots and 26 candidates, so it shouldn't be difficult." She told Beca.

"You might want to take a look at it." Added Aubrey.

Beca started looking at the names from the list. Although most of them were unfamiliar to her some rang a bell like Barbara "Barb" Johnson, who used to be a member of the BU Harmonics and Stephen Richardson, who was a Treble. However, to her surprise, she recognized a lot of the Bellas from the list.

"Hold on, what is Chloe doing on the list? As a matter of fact, what are _all_ of you doing on the list?"

They smiled back at her, and Beca felt confused.

"We would like to audition, too." Answered Chloe.

"What? Why? You don't need to, you are already on it."

"You'll see Beca, that's the thing: we don't want to be on it just because we are your friends." Said Cynthia-Rose.

"You really think I got you in just because we are friends?"

"What Cynthia-Rose means to say," intervened Aubrey, "is that we want to earn our place in the team, we want to prove ourselves that we still have the ability to perform and that we haven't lost our touch!"

"Aubrey, don't even say that. We have performed together many times, you don't need to prove anything. Me better than anyone else knows what you guys are capable of!"

"Beca," said Chloe, grabbing her by the shoulders, "many things can change in less than a year. My work might consist in teaching children how to sing but what if the lack of practice has diminished my abilities, or my voice? You can never take anything for granted, you taught me that. Give us the chance to do this, and in case we just aren't the same anymore then it's okay, all of us will help you with this as we promised and nothing has to change! Come on, let us have the satisfaction of proving ourselves, as Aubrey says." She said that so sweetly but at the same time so determined that Beca had no heart to keep arguing with them. _They really don't want to mess this up, that's why they want to prove me that they are still good_.

"All right, all right. You win. If you wanna do this then it's okay for me." They all started clapping and cheering, and hugged Beca. "But with one condition," she told them when they broke the hug, "you guys will go first."

* * *

When all the candidates were already seated and the clock struck 1:00 pm., Beca and Jesse came to the stage to welcome everybody.

"Um, hi everyone. For those of you who don't know me my name is Beca Mitchell, and this is Jesse Swanson." Jesse waved at the crowd and some of them waved back. "First of all we wanna thank you for coming and showing so much interest in all of this, we know that for some of you it's been a long time since you last performed, and we appreciate your enthusiasm –we truly do."

"It's people like you that inspire us to do this and… what can we say? Words aren't enough. Once again, thank you." Said Jesse, visibly moved.

"Just have fun. Don't worry about what might happen, you just give your best and screw everything else, okay?" Everybody laughed and Beca felt a little less nervous. "Okay, let's hear it."

She and Jesse took their seats at the front row, right in the middle. Bumper, Donald, Benji and Emily were already seated. On this occasion the audition song was a free choice, as Beca thought it would make the candidates more confident about the whole thing, besides it would be better to hear them sing a song they felt comfortable with. When everything was ready, Beca called on Aubrey Posen and Chloe Beale, as they had agreed. Beca was curious about which song her friends had chosen.

"Hi! Good afternoon to all of you, fellow a Capella people." Aubrey greeted them. "I'm Aubrey and this is Chloe."

"And we are from the Barden Bellas." Chloe said, proudly. Right after saying this they both started singing, and Beca was surprised to see that they had picked the old " _The Sign/Eternal Flame_ " mashup as their audition song, just this time Aubrey sang " _The Sign_ " all by herself.

 _I got a new life_

 _You would hardly recognize me I'm so glad_

 _How could a person like me care for you?_

 _Why do I bother?_

 _When you're not the one for me_

 _Is enough, enough._

They were even doing the same choreography than in the old days, and Beca found herself singing along to the song she used to hate when it was the only thing the Bellas sang.

 _I saw the sign and it opened up my mind_

 _And I am happy now living without you_

 _I've left you, oh uh oh_

 _I saw the sign and it opened up my eyes_

 _I saw the sign._

After Aubrey finished her part, it was Chloe's turn with " _Eternal Flame_ ".

 _Close your eyes, give me your hand, darling_

 _Do you feel my heart beating?_

 _Do you understand?_

 _Do you feel the same?_

 _Am I only dreaming?_

 _Is this burning an eternal flame?_

 _Say my name_

 _Sun shines through the rain_

 _A whole life so lonely_

 _And then come and ease the pain_

 _I don't want to lose this feeling, oh_

 _Is this burning an eternal flame?_

They finished their number and everybody cheered at them. Beca was delighted. Although she hadn't performed solo in a long time, Aubrey still had a powerful stage presence that imposed conditions (as long as she didn't vomit). Chloe, on the other hand, was a natural; her sensitive personality made all her performances endearing and special. _They are so in_. She said to herself. They both took their seats beside Beca and then she called on Fat Amy, Stacie, Cynthia-Rose and Lily. The four of them had decided to sing " _Since U Been Gone_ " together, and Beca remembered that had been their audition song when they auditioned for the Bellas.

Cynthia-Rose took the lead.

 _Here's the thing_

 _We started out friends_

 _It was cool, but it was all pretend_

Then Fat Amy followed.

 _Yeah, yeah_

 _Since you been gone_

Then it was Lily's turn.

 _You're dedicated, you took the time_

 _Wasn't long till I called you mine_

Then Fat Amy again.

 _Yeah, yeah_

 _Since you been gone_

And along came Stacie.

 _And all you'd ever hear me say_

 _Is how I picture me with you_

 _That's all you'd ever hear me say_

Then the four of them rocked the bridge together.

 _But since you been gone_

 _I can breathe for the first time_

 _I'm so moving on_

 _Yeah, yeah_

 _Thanks to you_

 _Now I get what I want_

 _You had your chance, you blew it_

 _Out of sight, out of mind_

 _Shut your mouth, I just can't take it_

 _Again, and again, and again, and again_

Beca couldn't help but smile at her friends' effort. She already knew they were awesome singers, but was glad that she had given them the chance to do it because they really wanted to prove what they were made of. After they were finished, they started with the others' auditions in alphabetical order, beginning with the Trebles. Beca decided to leave them to Jesse and the other Trebles' criteria.

The first guy, Dean Andrews, sang Kanye West's " _Street Lights_ ". Beca saw he was an excellent beatboxer but didn't have a good voice. The second guy, Sean Austin, chose Scorpions' " _Rock You Like a Hurricane_ ". The third guy, Tom Graham, went with Alabama Shakes' " _Always Alright_ ", which Beca had heard in one of Jesse's movies, _Silver Linings Playbook_. He had a high voice for being a man but Beca thought he would make a good add to the group. The fourth guy, Mike Hanson, picked Billy Joel's " _Uptown Girl_ " and did it pretty nice. Charlie Harris and John Murdoch sang Paul McCartney's " _Band on the Run_ " but Beca hated it, even though it was one of her favorite songs.

Then it was the BUs turn. They all sang Madonna songs, following their tradition. A girl called Lauren Cross sang " _Hung Up_ ", Kate Lee sang " _4 Minutes_ ", Barb Johnson (who Aubrey and Chloe used to call "Bologna Barb") sang " _Like a Virgin_ ", Joe Levinson sang " _La Isla Bonita_ " and Bob Wilson sang " _Like a Prayer_ ". Beca noticed they all were excellent performers, and remembered the two occasions the BUs had defeated the Bellas at the Riff-Off during her sophomore and junior year.

When The High Notes came in, Beca was disappointed to see they weren't as good as the BUs. For starters there weren't even that much of applicants, just four of them. However, Greg Marley made a pretty impressive rendition of Bob Marley's " _One Love_ " and Brian Mayer proved to be another excellent beatboxer when he sang Eminem's " _Lose Yourself_ ". After they went out it was the Bellas' turn.

After hearing past Bellas' sing, Beca finally realized why it was that Aubrey and Chloe told her that the group wasn't really good until a few years back. Most of the previous Bellas were off-key at best, and Beca was starting to imagine how a "Dream Team" would look with only recent members of each group.

The last two girls on the list were Daphne Portman (who sang Taylor Swift's " _Black Space_ ") and Alice Robinson, and Beca immediately knew she was THAT Alice, the one Chloe hated and Aubrey seemed to admire. She performed Lady Gaga's " _Poker Face_ " wonderfully, and seemed to be pretty confident. _Just the kind of thing Aubrey would admire in a person_. However when she came down the stage, she looked at her with such fierce eyes that Beca was afraid she was gonna attack her.

"Why did she look at me like that?" She asked Chloe.

"She looks at everyone like that." She answered, without even trying to conceal her hate. "I'm sure she's already aware of everything you did for the Bellas and hates you for that." She then pointed with her eyes at the other former Bella. "That girl, Daphne? She's her best friend and ally. Have you seen _Mean Girls_? She's like her Gretchen, just dumber. Pretty good singer though, as you can see."

After they took their seats, Jesse went up to the stage to close the auditions.

"Well, you guys did great! Those where such amazing performances, we will contact those of you who did better…"

"What about your girlfriend, pretty boy?" A female voice interrupted him from the public. Beca turned to see who had said it and wasn't surprised to see that Alice was standing. She had her arms crossed and looked directly at Jesse, defiant.

"I'm sorry?" Said Jesse, confused.

"Aubrey, Chloe, the fat girl, the Asian girl, the black girl and the hot girl all auditioned, why didn't Beca do it?"

Jesse didn't know what to say as Alice's hostility had caught him off-guard. However, Chloe answered for him.

"Maybe because she's the one that's organizing the whole thing?" She said, without turning.

"I get it egg-breath, but I'm sure you, her Bellas' friends wanted to audition to prove that you could still sing. If you did it, why not her?"

"Alice, there's really no point in…" started to say Aubrey, but was quickly silenced by Alice.

"If she's the one that got chosen to lead this team, it should be for a reason. She should show it to all of us who had never seen her perform. Or maybe she doesn't want to because she's afraid she's not up to the challenge." This was followed up by a few positive nods from The High Notes members.

"Okay that's it, I'm gonna break each and every one of her stupid little teeth!" Said Fat Amy, standing up. Both Cynthia-Rose and Stacie did the same, and Beca was afraid the whole thing would end in a fight.

"No, Amy!" She said while grabbing her by the shoulders. "Guys, calm down." She told Cynthia-Rose and Stacie. She looked at Alice and saw her laughing with her friend Daphne. _Chloe was right, she's really a bitch_. _But I have to be smarter than her_. "You know? She's right." They all looked at her, surprised.

"What are you doing?" She could hear Jesse asking her, shocked.

"She's right! All of you guys took the time to prepare a song for the audition and I just remained here, comfortably sited. If Alice wants me to audition then I'll do it." She went up to the stage and at the moment she stopped walking, she heard Alice mumbling at Daphne:

"I just hope she doesn't sing that ridiculous "Cups" song!" And they both jiggled. Beca laughed, although she tried to make it sound like a confident laugh rather than a nervous laugh.

"Okay. Don't worry Alice, I won't be singing "Cups" today. Although I'm flattered by the fact that you know so much about me, you know? I would never imagine you would know what my audition song was almost 4 years ago!" Beca's friends laughed, and Alice didn't know what to say. Beca started gaining confidence again.

"I'm gonna sing a different song now. A Broadway song. You like Broadway, don't you? Perhaps you don't know this one but I hope you enjoy it anyway. Okay, here we go." She then started creating a rhythm by clicking her fingers and hitting the floor with her feet.

 _It's not where you start, it's where you finish._

 _It's not how you go, it's how you land._

 _A hundred to one shot, they call him a klutz_

 _Can out-run the favorite, all he needs is the guts._

 _Your final return will not diminish_

 _And you can be the cream of the crop;_

 _It's not where you start, it's where you finish,_

 _And you're gonna finish on top._

She then started dancing to the song's rhythm that she was producing with her fingers and feet.

 _It's not where you start, it's where you finish._

 _It's not how you go, it's how you land._

 _All he needs is the guts._

 _Your final return will not diminish_

 _And you can be the cream of the crop;_

 _It's not where you start, it's where you finish,_

 _And you're gonna finish on top!_

She finished her dance and everybody started cheering at her. Alice was left speechless and Beca couldn't help but smile, triumphant. Jesse was clapping lime crazy. He better than anyone else knew what an amazing singer and dancer Beca was, but she just kept improving every time. And she had proved it to everybody else who doubted her! How amazing was that? _She completely bitch-slapped her!_ He thought, proudly.

"Was that enough? Because I also know _Cats_ and _Les Mis_ by memory." She said, and then went backstage. After that, they all started leaving the auditorium.


	6. The thirteen member

**A/N: Here's chapter 6, it's shorter than the other ones because the last one was pretty large but hope you enjoy it anyway:) As always R &R.**

* * *

Jesse followed Beca backstage after her performance to talk about what had happened.

"Hey! Are you okay?" He asked her, a little worried.

"Yeah."

"Because that was just…"

"I know."

Right in that moment Aubrey, Chloe and the rest of Beca's friends appeared. Fat Amy and Chloe had a big smile on their faces, while Aubrey seemed ashamed.

"That was aca-amazing, Beca! I mean, you made that crazy bitch quiet with your usual class. And that performance… I loved it! You are the best." Said Fat Amy, visibly satisfied. Beca smiled at her.

"Thank you, Amy." She then turned to Aubrey and Chloe. "That was quite an impression your little friend made out there."

"Beca, I'm so sorry for what happened." Said Aubrey.

"Why do you apologize?"

"Because I was the one that suggested her for the team, I had no idea things were going to go this badly." Beca could see she felt really guilty.

"It's okay, Aubrey." Beca reassured her. "You don't have to say anything. Right now I would like to know what we are dealing with. Is this girl dangerous in any way?"

Chloe seemed confused.

"What do you mean?"

"What type of bitch are we talking about? Is she the "I'll-slash-your-tires-and-try-to-seduce-your-boyfriend" type…"

"Hey!" Jesse exclaimed.

"…or the "I'll-push-you-out-of-the-stairs-so-you-get-killed" type?"

Chloe shook her head.

"No way. She might be a slut but I don't think she's capable of any harm."

"Are you positive?" She nodded. "Well, a bitch I can deal with."

"Does that mean she's staying?" Stacie asked, shocked.

"Yes, she's staying."

"Are you sure? Because it seems she could cause trouble." Jesse told her.

"You always find one of those in every team, ask Aubrey. When I first got in the Bellas I was the problematic one, defying her and singing songs that weren't rehearsed at the semi-finals and driving her crazy."

"Yeah but that was different. You weren't trying to sabotage me, you only wanted us to be better." Aubrey said. "Alice will do everything in her power to make you look ridiculous, she has tried it already."

"And failed." Pointed out Emily, who hadn't said anything since she arrived. "She's the one who lost with all of this, her little plan went the other way around because Beca didn't react the way she thought she would. She thought she would intimidate her with her attitude and what happened? Beca proved to be smarter than her, and she won't risk looking stupid again. I agree with Beca, she should stay in the team."

"You don't think she's gonna try to sabotage our work?" Asked Cynthia-Rose.

"Not if she is as smart as Aubrey and Chloe say, at least not on a large scale like messing up the choreography on purpose or something like that. She will try other things for sure, like bitching around with her friends and ignoring orders, but nothing more. Besides if Beca kicks her out everybody is going to think she did it because Alice defied her, not because she provoked her out of reason."

"That's a good point." Said Chloe. Emily continued.

"I think we should wait and see if she indeed tries to sabotage us like Cynthia-Rose says, and if she does then we kick her out but with a stronger motive than just provoking Beca into singing."

Everybody remained quiet for a few seconds, reflecting on Emily's words. _She is right_. Thought Beca. _I don't think she will do something stupid because that would cause her removal from the team, and she seems to be smarter than that_.

"As much as I hate Alice, I have to agree with Emily." Said Chloe, after a while. "We should let her stay and keep an eye on her."

"Me too." Said Aubrey.

"That makes three of us." Said Cynthia-Rose.

"Four." Added Stacie.

"Don't forget me." Said Fat Amy.

"And me." Said Lily, who had been pretty quiet.

"Jesse? What about you?" Asked Beca, looking at him. He always thought things a lot, and didn't like to make rush decisions.

"Yeah, of course." He finally said.

"It's settled, then. We have our thirteen member." And they headed outside the building.


	7. The true reason

**A/N: Hi again, here's chapter 7. I wanna thank those of you who are getting involved with my story, I'm glad you are enjoying it :) As always R &R.**

* * *

Jesse and Beca arrived home late in the evening carrying a cheese pizza with them. It had been a long day but thankfully it was a Friday, so they didn't mind staying up late. Beca sat on the blue sofa with the food while Jesse went to the kitchen for a couple of plates. They were really hungry and Jesse didn't know why, until he realized they hadn't eaten in all day. They frenetically started eating the pizza and didn't say anything for a while until Jesse decided to express a doubt he had had for a few hours, since the auditions had taken place.

"Bec?" He asked her. Although she was heavily concentrated on her food she looked him up from her plate.

"Yeah?"

"Can I ask you something?" She nodded. "Why did you decide to give Alice a chance? You could have easily put her aside and go with someone else after she was rude to you."

Beca left her plate at the glass table that was in front of the sofa.

"You think I had a special motive to do it?"

"Yeah, I do."

"Why?"

"Because I know you, you never do things without a reason. And you hate people like Alice, so why did you do it?"

Beca cleaned her mouth with a napkin and looked directly at Jesse's eyes.

"Because I understand the reason why she hates me."

Jesse looked at her, confused.

"And that would be…?"

"When we work on something really hard –call it a job, a house, anything you want, we generally hate it when another person gets its hands on it and modifies our legacy. It hits us right in our pride. We don't care if it's for the best, for us it's always for the worst. When I first got into the Bellas Aubrey hated my ass because I started questioning everything she had done for the group with my attitude and my actions."

"But eventually she realized she was wrong and you were right."

"Yeah but it wasn't easy for her, and I'm positive the same thing happens with Alice. When she became a Bella she formed a new team from scratch, gave it a new oath, new choreography, new songs… I'm sure it couldn't have been easy. Aubrey tried to copy her method but she failed, and that's when I took charge of the Bellas. And what did I do? I gave it a new oath, new choreography and new songs. You get it?"

He did, although he thought it was ridiculous.

"Yeah, you think she hates you because you "destroyed" her legacy. But isn't that stupid?"

Beca smiled at him.

"You are a very smart weirdo, but I also think there's another reason besides that one." She said, as she took another bite from her slice. "I think she's jealous."

"Jealous of the fact that the ICCA chose you over her to head this project, despite everything she did for the group?" Jesse asked with a little skepticism.

Beca hadn't thought of that.

"Umm… there might be some of that, too." She said, as she shrugged.

"Then what do you think is her reason to be jealous?"

"My guess is that it has something to do with the fact that she never earned her fellow Bellas' respect. I mean, think about it. Aubrey? Secretly hated her. Chloe? Openly hated her. The other girls? According to both of them they all either hated her or feared her. Alice didn't bother with being their friend, she wasn't interested in forming a bond with any of them."

"And you did?" He said, not completely convinced.

"I always thought that if we couldn't be friends then at least we had to respect each other if we wanted to succeed, which we did." She said, while she went to the kitchen for some water. "Although I used to hate when Aubrey went all " _Turn the Beat Around_ " on my ass, I respected her determination and strength. That's the only reason we were able to work things out at the end, because there was the minimum amount of respect needed." She took a long sip from her glass while Jesse reflected on her words.

"You know what? I think you might be right." He told her after she sat on the sofa by his side.

"You do?"

"Yeah."

"Why is that?" She asked, while giving him a smile.

"Because every relationship that pretends to be a decent one has to be based upon respect, call it a romantic or professional one, even a friendship. It's highly probable she is jealous that the girls always respected you when you were their leader, and her girls never did; they only hated her or feared her, as you said. It's a pretty good reason." He answered, while grabbing another slice.

"That's why I decided it would be better for her to stay, it's not like she hates me because I ran over her dog or because I slept with her boyfriend. She's not going to try to kill me, she'll just bitch around with her friends as Emily said. Besides I have you guys, if anything happens we kick her out and end of the story."

"If you feel so confident then it's okay for me." Said Jesse. _Beca is very smart, she wouldn't do this if she didn't feel secure. My girl can handle this_.

"You are the perfect boyfriend. You know that, right?" She asked him, and winked at him.

"I love when you say it to me." He answered, and then kissed her.


	8. The first rehearsal

**A/N: Here's chapter 8, enjoy :) As always R &R.**

* * *

On Saturday, Beca and Jesse began with the process of selecting members for the team based on their auditions. They were being helped by Aubrey, Chloe, Bumper, Donald, Benji and Emily, and when they were finished they felt pretty satisfied with the results. That night Beca had a gig (she worked as a DJ two times a week besides her job at the Record Label), but asked the others to call those who had been selected for the first rehearsal, set to take place the next day at 9:00 a.m. at Barden's empty dance studio.

When Beca and Jesse arrived, they saw Chloe had posted a list in the wall with everybody's names and had highlighted those who had already arrived. Practically everyone was already there: Bumper, Benji, Fat Amy, Donald, Emily, Cynthia-Rose, Stacie, Lily, Aubrey and Chloe herself, besides some new faces: Dean Andrews, a former Treble in his mid-thirties who was an excellent beatboxer but didn't have the best voice; Tom Graham, another former Treble in his late-twenties with an unusually high voice for being a man; Mike Hanson, a current Treble who was obsessed with Billy Joel and had one of the most amazing voices Beca had ever heard; "Bologna Barb" Johnson, who had auditioned for the Bellas back in the day and ended being a member of the BUs instead; Joe Levinson, a thirty-something former member of the BUs who was a pretty good dancer; Greg Marley and Brian Mayer from The High Notes, who were both rappers and beatboxers and had a wide vocal range; and Bob Wilson, another BUs member who also had a decent voice and beatboxed, too. The only ones missing from the list were Alice and her friend, Daphne, and somehow Beca wasn't surprised.

"Aubrey, did Alice or Daphne say something when you called them last night?" Beca asked her. She was sitting with Chloe writing something on her little notebook.

"They only said they would be here at 9:00 a.m. sharp. I don't know what happened."

"I'll tell you what happened," Chloe intervened, "they realized they would do something good for humanity if they didn't come."

"Not even close, Chloe." A voice replied to her from the entrance. The three of them turned and saw Alice approaching them. She was wearing a navy blue jacket and had her Bella scarf tied around her neck. "Sorry I'm late," she told Beca when she was next to her, "I just arrived from the hospital. Daphne had a few more drinks than usual last night and crashed her car on the way home."

"Oh my God." Said Aubrey, visibly consternated.

"But she is okay, right?" Asked Beca.

"Yeah, but she broke her hip and her left leg. Naturally she won't be able to perform."

"I'm sorry, Alice. I honestly am." Said Chloe.

"Are you?" Alice said, resentful.

"I know she is your best friend and this must be a difficult situation for you."

Alice didn't say anything, but she seemed sad and as if she were about to cry. Beca almost felt sorry for her. As a girl who didn't use to have lots of friends before College (or anyone, for that matter), she knew exactly how Alice must have felt without her only friend. _Maybe she's not that bad after all_ , she thought.

"Hey, are we gonna do this or what?" Asked Jesse, who had just appeared. He then saw Alice's long face. "What's wrong?"

"Daphne had an accident last night, she won't be able to join us."

"Oh! I'm so sorry, Alice. Not something bad, I hope."

"She broke her hip and her leg, but she's gonna be okay."

"That's the important thing. If you need anything, we are right here."

She then bursted into tears and threw herself into Jesse's arms. Jesse looked at her, visibly confused. Aubrey and Chloe were pretty shocked, but Beca's reaction was the most surprising of them all. She didn't say a single word, or moved, or anything, and felt a little stupid because of that. She looked at her friends and could almost hear her voices telling her " _What the hell is the matter with you? She is obviously hitting on your boyfriend, why aren't you slapping her?_ " However, an invisible glue prevented her from making a scene and she just stood there watching everything. Once Alice stopped crying, she cleaned her nose and eyes with a tissue.

"Thank you, Jesse. You are a really comforting guy."

"Any time." He said, with a mix of confusion and surprise. Alice walked away and Beca started laughing. Jesse felt even more surprised with her reaction.

"Slut." Chloe mumbled, furious.

"What the hell was that about?" Asked Aubrey, still in shock. Beca couldn't stop herself from laughing. "Beca?"

Beca tried to calm herself down, but the whole thing seemed so strangely funny to her that it was harder than she thought. _Why the hell am I laughing this much?_ She kept asking herself. After a few seconds, she felt relaxed enough to shut up.

"You know what? We will talk about this later." She said. They went with the others to start the rehearsal. Beca approached Emily to ask her to call on Hannah Williams, one of the current Bellas to join the team. The young girl arrived in 5 minutes and seemed pretty happy to be a part of it.

"Okay," said Beca, "what we need right now is to get everything ready for the first knockout. We will face other schools from Georgia so I don't think we should do a really spectacular number, just something that helps us get to the next round. What do you thing?"

"I don't know." Said Brian Mayer, from The High Notes. "Wouldn't it be better the other way around, to show everybody what we are capable of?"

"Yeah, why save the best for the very end?" Said Bob Wilson, from the DUs.

"It's pretty obvious, isn't it?" Answered Fat Amy. "By definition, first rounds are the easiest while the last ones are the hardest. It wouldn't be wise to show our best hand at the very beginning, right Beca?"

She nodded.

"Do you guys have any song in mind?" Asked Emily.

"Well," said Jesse, "we loved Mike's rendition of _Uptown Girl_ and we thought it would be good song to sing. I mean, who doesn't love that song? Who doesn't love Billy Joel, for God's sake?" Everybody laughed at his joke, and Beca thought his humor was one of the things she loved most about Jesse. "We have twenty two performers, some of them could sing and beatbox while others could just dance. If we work on it hard enough, we could do something really great."

"I agree." Said Aubrey. " _Uptown Girl_ is more of a "guy" song, but we can have a couple of girls to do a solo and the rest of us can do background vocals and simulate instruments. It will be great."

"Those in favor rise your hand." Asked Beca, and everybody did it with the exception of Brian and Bob. "The majority has spoken, we are doing _Uptown Girl_. Let's begin."

They rehearsed for three hours, spending the first half on vocal arrangements (with Bumper and Donald leading that department) and the second half in choreography (in charge of Chloe and Joe Levinson). Mike Hanson was elected to lead the performance, and felt thrilled to sing his jam. Beca didn't take her eyes off from Alice, who behaved nicely all through the rehearsals. They spent the last 10 minutes organizing their schedule, and it was a little hard because most of them had jobs that demanded most of their time. However, they agreed they would see each other on Wednesdays from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. and on Saturdays and Sundays from 8:00 to 11:00 a.m..

"Thank you all from coming, we'll see you on Wednesday!" Said Beca to finish the rehearsal, and they all left the building. However, Alice stayed behind and went directly to Jesse.

"Jesse, I wanted to thank you for what happened before." She told him.

"It was nothing." He answered her, polite but firm. Beca was looking at them from the distance.

"No, I mean it. You were really nice." And then she embraced him again. "Thank you."

Jesse didn't know what to do. He looked at Beca, but she didn't do anything. He politely smiled at her, and she left. Beca approached him, and she looked oddly calmed.

"Are you ready to go?" She simply asked him.

"Yeah, let's go."


	9. The fight

**A/N: Hi! Hope you all had a great weekend. Here's chapter 9, it's all about Jeca but next chapter will have a little surprise for those of you who enjoy riff-offs as much as I do. As always R &R. Enjoy :)**

* * *

"I'm starving." Beca said when she and Jesse arrived home after the rehearsal. "What do you think we should eat today? I'm feeling like sushi but they don't do home delivery, besides it's expensive." She kept walking and talking without looking at Jesse. "Maybe we should go to the mall and see if we find something interesting, don't you think?" He didn't answer so she turned to look at him, and saw had sat at the sofa with his arms crossed. "Is something wrong?" She asked him after noticing he had a hard look on his face, something estrange in Jesse.

"What the hell happened today?" He asked, keeping his arms crossed.

"I'm sorry?"

"With Alice. What was that all about?"

He was rude, and his hostility caught Beca off-guard. However, she didn't let him realize it.

"Oh, you mean her vain attempt at making me angry by hitting on you?"

"Yes. Why didn't you say anything when you saw the way she acted around me today?"

"Because I didn't think it was important."

Jesse looked at her with his eyes wide open, visibly surprised.

"You didn't?"

"No." She assured him, very calmed.

"So you are okay with it? You actually don't mind that a girl came to me right in front of you?"

Beca was starting to understand the reason of his irritation, but she thought it would be better to try to calm him down.

"She is predictable! She knows there's no easiest and cheapest way to make a girl mad than hitting on her boyfriend. It's also cliché, but…" She said, shrugging. However, Jesse kept insisting.

"You are not mad, at all?"

"Would you like me to be? Would you like me to behave like one of those jealous bitches who get all crazy when their boyfriends or husbands dare to look at women that are not they? Because I thought we had gotten past that territory like two years ago!" Beca was starting to get exasperated with his insistence. _Don't get mad, don't get mad, don't get mad_ , she kept saying to herself.

"I'm just trying to understand your attitude." At that moment, Beca lost it.

"What attitude?" She snapped at him. "She provoked me, I didn't respond because I didn't want to give her the satisfaction. What the hell is wrong with that?" Beca immediately felt bad for yelling at him but couldn't help it. He then stood up from the sofa.

"I'm mad because you don't seem to care that there is someone out there who is trying to break us up!"

 _Aha! There it is_. Beca laughed.

"Jesse, Alice isn't trying to break us up. Don't you see it? What she wants is to make me feel insecure, to drive me insane by flirting with you!"

"But that isn't happening anytime soon, right? Because apparently you seem to be pretty okay with it."

"It would happen if you told me what she did today made you feel something."

"Like what?"

"Like anything." She crossed her arms. _Now it's my turn_. "Did you feel a sparkle when she hugged you? A connection? A vibe? An urgent need to make her watch _The Breakfast Club_?"

"Beca…"

"Did she make you feel nervous? Like the whole world had stopped?"

Now Jesse was the one that was starting to get desperate.

"Of course not! How can you even say that?"

"Exactly, thank you for helping me prove my point!"

He looked at her with a strange face.

"Now I'm feeling more confused than before." He said, scratching his head.

"Just hear me out, would you?" She said, grabbing him by the shoulders. "We have been together for almost four years. We have gone through so many stuff together, and I mean hard stuff. A long distance relationship, your parents' divorce, my dad's illness… lots of things, things that seemed impossible to get by at the time but we managed to overcame them anyway. Why? Because what we have is solid, we have made it solid." He still didn't seem convinced, but his expression had relaxed. Beca continued. "Jesse, I love you. And I know you love me, you prove it to me every day. I trust you more than anyone in the world. I know you would never, ever betray me because I would never, ever betray you. I couldn't care less about Alice hitting on you because I know that what we have needs a lot more than a meaningless flirt to be broken. I know you wouldn't cheat on me even for all the money in the world, just like I would never do. Alice can do what she wants, but she doesn't know it will take more than a simple, superficial hug to make me mad."

Jesse didn't say anything, but a little smile formed in his face.

"What if she finds out and next time she tries something… bigger?"

"Like what?"

"Like getting me drunk for me to sleep with her or kissing me or something like that."

Beca laughed. _He's getting back to normal now_.

"Jesse, you have watched a lot of movies."

"I know, but what would happen then?"

Beca thought about it for a brief moment. She imagined finding out Alice had kissed Jesse or seeing it herself.

"Well, if any of that happens I will beat the shit out of her." Now Jesse laughed. "Yeah, definitely. But we shouldn't worry about that right now, right?"

"Right. Just know that I would never do it willingly."

"I know, that's why I would beat the shit out of her."

"I hope it never happens."

"Me too, for her own good." She then went to the kitchen and opened the fridge. "You know what? I think we should eat sandwiches and try to save as much money as we can for when we move to LA. What do you think?" He didn't say anything. "For God's sake, now what?" She asked as she closed the fridge's door.

"Bec, I'm sorry about everything I said before. It's just I…"

"You know what? Shut up. Right now the only thing I want to hear from you is if you don't mind eating sandwiches for us to save money, okay?"

He smiled, and realized the talk was over.

"Okay."


	10. The Riff-Off

**A/N: Hi! Sorry it took me the whole week to post a new chapter, but as you can see it is a pretty long one and I had to do my research. Hope you enjoy it, as always R &R :)**

 **I don't own any of the songs, bands, singers and movies mentioned in this chapter.**

* * *

"Okay, so that would be all for the day." Beca told her fellow teammates after finishing the rehearsal on Wednesday night. She was only with the girls, as the guys had gone rehearsing somewhere else. "Have a great evening and we'll see each other on Saturday, okay?" They nodded and began gathering their things. In that moment, Beca remembered she had some news for them. "Oh and guys? We are having a Riff-Off on Friday at 8:00 p.m. at the empty pool." Most of the girls were surprised but also exited with the news.

"A Riff-Off? Really?" Asked Aubrey.

"Yeah, an old-school Bellas vs Trebles vs BUs vs High Notes Riff-Off. There has to be 10 people in each team, which means Bellas are already covered."

"What about the rest of us? How do we get to 10?" Asked Bologna Barb.

"You can ask current BUs to join you. The same will apply to Trebles and High Notes." Barb nodded, satisfied with her answer. Then Beca continued. "Just be prepared, you all know what Riff-Offs are about, it's very fun but also quite hard. Anyway, can you all make it?" Everybody said yes. "Okay, then we'll see each other on Friday."

Everybody started leaving and Beca was about to do it too, but then Hannah (one of the new Bellas) approached her.

"Excuse me, what is a Riff-Off?"

Beca looked at her, surprised.

"You don't know? What, you didn't have a Riff-Off this year?" She asked Emily, who was talking with Chloe.

"No. I don't know why, really." She answered her.

"But it's a tradition! Anyone who has been a member of an a Capella group must had participated in at least one!" Aubrey said, displeased.

"Aubrey, relax. It's not a big deal." Said Chloe, trying to comfort her. She then turned to Hannah. "A Riff-Off is a little singing competition in which all teams from Barden get together and sing songs that belong to a category previously chosen. By turns."

"Uh?" Hannah asked, a little confused. Then Beca intervened.

"Let's say the chosen category is «Songs about sex». A member the Bellas starts singing " _S &M_", and if a member of any other team wants to interrupt her, then he/she has to do it with a song that also belongs to the category, say " _Let's talk about sex_ ". But there's a catch: you have to do it matching the last word he/she sang. If the last word was "sex" then you must start your own song with the same word. Got it?"

Hannah weighed her words.

"What if you don't start it with the same word or you just don't know any song about sex?"

"You get cut off." Answered Chloe.

"Disqualified." Clarified Beca.

"And then a new category is chosen for the remaining teams to keep on competing until a sole team is left to be proclaimed winner." Concluded Chloe.

"I get it. Sounds fun." Hannah said, with a smile.

"It's very fun but also quite difficult." Said Emily. "You have to be very concentrated so you don't end up singing a song from other category or not matching the words."

"Both things have happened to us." Said Beca. "When I was a freshman we lost because the word I had to match was " _it_ " and I sang " _it's_ ". The next year I wasn't there because I got sick, and we lost to the BUs. Then when I was a junior we lost to the BUs again because Fat Amy forgot the lyrics of " _Love the Way you Lie_ "."

"And last year we lost because I dared to sing a song I wrote, which broke the unwritten rule of "never perform an original song" and, naturally, didn't belong to any category." Said Emily, ashamed.

"No kidding! So you have never won a Riff-Off?" Hannah said, talking directly to Beca. She shook her head. "Well, hopefully you do it this year."

"It's her life ambition." Said Chloe, joking. Jokes aside, since Beca's first Riff-Off she had always wished of winning it, especially since she felt that particular one was stolen from the Bellas in favor of the Trebles. She thought that, given the fact that it was going to be her very last Riff-Off, it would be really nice to finally win it.

"Let's hope." She simply said.

* * *

On Friday night, they all gathered in the empty pool. Many students and teachers had gone to the pool to watch the Riff-Off, and they seemed pretty excited. Beca was with the Bellas (who were wearing their yellow scarfs) while Jesse was with the Trebles (who were wearing their purple sweatshirts). The apathetic High Notes and the talented BUs were there, too, and also Fred Higgins, a tall and very handsome guy who was the new host of the Riff-Off. Stacie immediately set her eyes on him, and he smiled at her. Beca and the girls preferred to ignore it and let nature take its course.

"Okay people," Fred said, "it's 8:00 p.m. so it's time to start. Welcome to the Riff-Off!" Everybody cheered. "Tonight we have with us some of the best a Capella performers Barden has ever seen, so this is no ordinary event. Because of this, we are making some adjustments to make it more interesting."

"Bring it." Said Bumper, as competitive as always. Fred then went to a laptop that was connected to a projector, and after a few clicks a text was projected on the wall.

"During the first round," he read, "all teams will compete by singing songs based off the category previously chosen. The host will randomly pick who sings next, because of this every team needs to have a song prepared. If the chosen team fails to do so, then they will be cut-off."

"Like the Riff-Off vs Das Sound Machine." Said Cynthia-Rose.

"During the second round, the remaining teams will keep on competing under the same format until only two remain. If a sole team wins the next two rounds, then they will be declared winners. If they tie, both teams' captains will face each other in a sudden dead round, in which they will be able to interrupt the other by matching their song with the last word the other one sang. If one of them misses the matching word or is simply unable to interrupt the other by the time he/she finishes his/her song, then his/her team will be cut-off and the other one will automatically become winner." He then stopped reading. "Any questions?"

"Sounds pretty confusing." Said Hannah. Her affirmation was met with people nodding their heads. Aubrey shook hers, exasperated.

"First round, four teams get in and one gets out; Fred picks which team gets to sing, same thing happens with second round." Explained Chloe. "Third round, two teams compete by the same format, one wins. Fourth round, the same teams do the exact same thing. If a team wins both rounds, then it's over. If it goes one-and-one, there's a fifth round in which the captains from both teams compete by the traditional format until only one remains."

"Thank God someone understood." Said Greg Marley from his place.

"Couldn't you have made it sound easier, dude?" Donald asked Fred. However, he didn't answer.

"Well, that would be all." He said instead. "Any doubts? No? Well then, let's start with our first category!" With another click, a virtual spinning wheel appeared on the wall.

"Good luck!" Yelled Jesse. Then, the wheel stopped in «Michael Jackson from the eighties». _That shouldn't be hard_. Beca thought. Fred gave the teams a few seconds to organize themselves.

"Okay, let's start with the BU Harmonics!" He said, pointing at them. Some of them started beatboxing and Beca immediately recognized the characteristic tones from " _Thriller_ ".

John Levinson took the lead.

 _It's close to midnight  
Something evil's lurkin' in the dark  
Under the moonlight  
You see a sight that almost stops your heart_

Then he started dancing and all of his teammates began doing the same as they did background sounds.

 _You try to scream  
But terror takes the sound before you make it  
You start to freeze  
As horror looks you right between the eyes  
You're paralyzed…_

Suddenly, Fred cut them off right before the chorus and pointed at the Trebles. Mike Hanson started singing with the other Trebles doing background voices.

 _I'm starting with the man in the mirror  
I'm asking him to change his ways  
And no message could have been any clearer  
If you want to make the world a better place  
Take a look at yourself, and then make a change_

He had a lovely voice and sang with such feeling that he gave Beca shivers.

 _I've been a victim of a selfish kind of love  
It's time that I realize  
That there are some with no home, not a nickel to loan  
Could it be really…_

Then, Fred cut him off and pointed at the High Notes. A young man called Richie James started singing.

 _But my friend you have seen nothin'  
Just wait 'til I get through_

 _Because I'm bad, I'm bad come on  
You know I'm bad, I'm bad come on, you know  
You know I'm bad, I'm bad come on, you know_

Beca thought they did it pretty good, but they were just trying to imitate Michael Jackson's voice.

 _And the whole world has to  
Answer right now  
Just to tell you once again  
Who's bad?_

Then it was the Bellas turn, and Cynthia-Rose took the lead.

 _And don't go around breaking young girls' hearts  
And mother always told me be careful of who you love  
And be careful of what you do 'cause the lie becomes the truth_

Then they all started dancing and singing. Fat Amy tried to moonwalk, without success.

 _Billie Jean is not my lover  
She's just a girl who claims that I am the one  
But the kid is not my son  
She says I am the one, but the kid is not my son…_

Just when they were starting to get their groove on, Fred went back to the BUs. They didn't expect to be the first ones to sing again as they had started the round, and that made them nervous. A girl called Andrea Mayer started singing the first song that came to her mind.

 _All I want to say is that  
They don't really care about us  
All I want to say is that  
They don't really care about us_

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, stop right there!" Fred yelled, and they went quiet. He approached Andrea and Beca immediately knew they were out. "Dear girl, I'm gonna ask you something. Do you know what album does that song belong to?" She seemed freaked out, but still managed to answer.

"I think it's from _HIStory_."

"Oh." Said Fred. "And you know in which year it was released?"

"I…" she mumbled. _1995_. Thought Beca.

"It was released in 1995, which means your song doesn't belong to the category, which also means that you are…"

"Cut off!" Everyone yelled. It was always embarrassing to be the first team to get off from the Riff-Off, especially for such a stupid reason. The BUs started yelling at the young girl and Beca felt sorry for her.

"Poor girl." Said Chloe.

"She messed up." Said Aubrey.

"She just got nervous, she didn't know they were going to the first ones again and just sang the first thing that came to her mind." Answered Emily, and Beca knew she understood the girl's shame as she had gone through a similar situation a year ago.

After the BUs took a step back, Fred made the wheel spin again. It landed in «Break-up songs». This time, it was The High Notes turn to open the round. Jenny Hartman, a blond girl started singing.

 _He says she's been unfaithful  
She says her love for him has gone  
And the brother shrugs to his sister and says  
"Looks like it's just us from now on"_

 _We always need to hear both sides of the story…_

Immediately Fred cut them off and pointed at the Trebles. They were caught off their guard but Benji jumped in.

 _Hmmm... It's not too late  
'Cause you are not alone  
I'm always there with you  
And we'll get lost together  
'Til the light comes pouring through_

His voice had always been very soft and full of emotion, and it was a delight to hear him perform.

 _'Cause when you feel like you're done  
And the darkness has won  
Babe, you're not lost  
When your world's crashing down  
And you can't bear the thought  
I said, babe, you're not lost…_

Then it was the Bellas' turn. Stacie had a song prepared, but Alice anticipated her and started singing on her own.

 _So I'll go sit on the floor  
Wearing your clothes  
All that I know is that  
I don't know how to be something you miss  
Never thought we'd have a last kiss  
Never imagined we'd end like this_

All of the Bellas accompanied her with the choirs, although no one liked her. Stacie seemed mad Alice had stolen the moment from her.

 _Your name, forever the name on my lips_

 _Just like our last kiss…_

Then Fred went back to The High Notes, and a man named Charlie Cross took the lead although his friends tried to stop him, as he didn't seem completely sober.

 _Look at the stars  
Look how they shine for you  
And everything you do  
Yeah they were all yellow…_

"Goodbye." Aubrey whispered behind Beca. Fred interrupted him.

"Hey guys," he said to the crowd, "did you know " _Yellow_ " is a break-up song? Because I didn't and I've been a Coldplay fan for years." Some people laughed. He then turned to look at Charlie. "I'm sorry man, but because of your little mistake you and all of your friends are…"

"Cut-off!" The audience yelled again.

"So it's us against the Trebles again!" Said Fat Amy.

"So that means we have our two finalists, the Bellas and the Trebles!" Fred announced, and the crowd went crazy. "Let's be honest, who wasn't expecting it? Anyway, let's proceed."

He then made the wheel spin once again and it stopped at «Famous one-hit wonders». Fred chose the Bellas to start this time around, and Stacie and Fat Amy started singing.

 _I get knocked down, but I get up again  
You're never going to keep me down  
I get knocked down, but I get up again  
You're never going to keep me down_

Some of them started dancing, a couple of them preferred to jump and others kept on singing.

 _Pissing the night away  
Pissing the night away_

 _He drinks a whiskey drink  
He drinks a vodka drink  
He drinks a lager drink  
He drinks a cider drink  
He sings the songs that remind him  
Of the good times  
He sings the songs that remind him  
Of the better times…_

Then, it was the Trebles turn. Bumper and Donald knew it was their chance to shine.

 _One, two, three, four, five  
Everybody in the car, so come on let's ride  
To the liquor store around the corner  
The boys say they want some gin and juice  
But I really don't wanna_

Some of the guys were terrible dancers, but their enthusiasm was evident when the chorus arrived and they started dancing to it.

 _A little bit of Monica in my life  
A little bit of Erica by my side  
A little bit of Rita is all I need  
A little bit of Tina is what I see  
A little bit of Sandra in the sun  
A little bit of Mary all night long  
A little bit of Jessica here I am  
A little bit of you makes me your man…_

The Bellas were trapped on the Trebles' rhythm, so when Fred pointed at them they were caught off-guard. However, Aubrey came to the rescue.

 _Turn the beat around  
Love to hear percussion_

All the Bellas joined her and they even started dancing the old choreography. Even Beca did it with a smile, although she hated it.

 _Turn it upside down  
Love to hear percussion_

 _Turn the beat around  
Love to hear percussion  
Turn it upside down  
Love to hear percussion_

 _Turn the beat around  
Love to hear percussion  
Turn it upside down  
Love to hear percussion!_

In that moment, Fred cut them off.

"Girls, girls, stop." He said, and Beca didn't understand why. "Although that was a great performance, unfortunately " _Turn the Beat Around_ " is not a one-hit wonder."

"Excuse me?" Said Aubrey, shocked. "The fact that it later became a famous song thanks to another artist doesn't stop it from being a one-hit wonder!"

"It does, actually."

"Dude, you need to look up for the meaning of one-hit wonder on the internet." Beca said, and all the girls laughed except for Aubrey, who was furious.

"I'm sorry girls, but the Trebles win this round!" They all cheered, while the Bellas angrily protested.

"Don't worry." Said Chloe. "There's still another round."

"Hope it's a good one." Said Cynthia-Rose.

"Now remember you all, if the Trebles win the next round then they will be proclaimed winners. However, if the Bellas win then we will have an extra round. Let's see what our category is!" And he actioned the wheel one more time.

"Not Christian Rock, not Christian Rock." Beca heard Fat Amy mumbling beside her. The wheel landed on «Broadway».

"Jesus!" Donald exclaimed. The Trebles sang first and Benji took the lead.

 _When I'm stuck with a day that's grey and lonely  
I just stick up my chin and grin and say, oh_

 _The sun will come out tomorrow  
So you gotta hang on  
'til tomorrow, come what may!_

Then the guys rose their arms into the sky and it turned into a very funny picture.

 _Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love ya, tomorrow  
You're always a day away!_

 _When I'm stuck with a day that's grey and lonely  
I just stick up my chin and grin and say oh…_

Then it was the Bellas' turn, and Chloe sang solo for the first time in the whole evening.

 _So if you care to find me  
Look to the Western sky!  
As someone told me lately  
Everyone deserves the chance to fly  
And if I'm flying solo  
At least I'm flying free  
To those who ground me  
Take a message back from me!_

 _Tell them how I am defying gravity  
I'm flying high, defying gravity  
And soon I'll match them in renown…_

Then it was the Trebles' turn again, and Mike Hanson stepped forward.

 _Softly, deftly, music shall caress you  
hear it, feel it, secretly possess you,_

Beca thought he could become a Broadway actor if he wanted to. She then thought in what Aubrey would say if she were aware of Beca's constant compliments of Mike's musical abilities. _I can see your toner through those jeans!_ She would yell at her.

 _Open up your mind, let your fantasies unwind  
In this darkness that you know you cannot fight  
The darkness of the music of the night_

Fred pointed at the Bellas, and Beca realized she hadn't sung through all the Riff-Off. She quickly though of a Broadway song and remembered a movie she had watched with Jesse on Sunday. She then took the lead.

 _People make mistakes! Fathers! Mothers!  
People make mistakes!  
Holding to their own.  
Thinking their alone.  
Honor their mistakes! Fight for their mistakes!  
One another's terrible mistakes!  
Witches can be right. Giants can be good.  
You decide what's right. You decide what's good._

 _Just remember…_

She stopped, as Fred had pointed at the Trebles once again. However, none of them sang a single word. He then asked Beca to continue, and all the Bellas joined her. She was thrilled.

 _Someone is on your side (our side)_

And Chloe helped her with the second voice.

 _Our side  
Someone else is not  
While we're seeing our side (Our side)  
Our side  
Maybe we forgot, they are not alone  
No one is alone  
Someone is on your side  
No one is alone_

She finished her song and everybody cheered her, even the Trebles. She made a small bow and couldn't help but remember her first Riff-Off after she sang " _No Diggity_ ", believing it would lead the Bellas into victory when as a matter of fact it got them disqualified. She hoped this was not the case.

"Well, what a showdown!" Fred said, clapping. "Thanks to Ms. Beca Mitchell we have a tie! You all know what happens next, don't you?"

 _Damn_. Beca said to herself. She had forgotten the final round was going to be a sudden death match between the Trebles and the Bellas' captain, who happened to be Jesse and Beca herself.

"This shit is about to get real." Fat Amy said.

"Beca, Jesse, come to the front." Fred asked them. Jesse hadn't sung anything through the night, and Beca was starting to believe he had been saving himself for that round. They both walked towards each other, and when they were about 10 inches apart they stopped. Fred stood up in the middle.

"Okay, so you know the rules. If any of you wants to interrupt the other, you must do it by matching your song with the last word he/she sang. If one of you misses the matching word or you are simply unable to interrupt the other by the time he/she finishes his/her song, you will be cut-off and the other team will be declared winner."

"You know? You don't need to repeat the same thing you told us before." Jesse said and Beca laughed.

"Well then, let's see what our final category is!" And the wheel started spinning one last time. After a few extra seconds, it stopped in «Songs made famous by movies». Jesse smiled, triumphant and Beca couldn't believe it.

"Are you kidding me?" She asked, incredulous. "He is the movies freak!"

"Come on, Beca! You can do this!" She heard Aubrey cheering her from behind. The other Bellas started doing the same thing and Beca felt a little less bad.

"Okay, so let's do this! Who will take the lead?" Fred asked.

"Let him do it." Beca said, with her hands in her forehead. Immediately, Jesse started singing and the other Trebles joined with their beatboxing sounds.

 _Risin' up, back on the street  
Did my time, took my chances  
Went the distance  
Now I'm back on my feet  
Just a man and his will to survive_

Then, Beca found a song that she could link with one of the following words.

 _So many times…_

And then she knew it was her turn.

 _…times the wire must tense for the note  
Caught in the fire, say oh  
We're about to explode_

 _Carry your world, I'll carry your world  
Carry your world, I'll carry your world_

 _Some far…_

But then, Jesse backfired.

 _…far, wherever you are  
I believe that the heart does go on_

"Come on, you hate that song!" She mocked him.

 _Once more you open the door  
And you're here in my heart  
And my heart will go on and on_

 _Love…_

But she found the way to strike again.

 _…love when I'm afraid  
To fall  
But watching you stand alone  
All of my doubt  
Suddenly goes away somehow_

 _One step closer_

"And you hate that movie!" Jesse protested. It was true, but she kept on singing anyway.

 _I have died every day  
waiting for you  
Darlin' don't be afraid  
I have loved you for a  
Thousand years  
I'll love you for a  
Thousand more  
Time…_

He went back at it one more time.

 _…time's just holding me down  
I'll hit the ceiling or else I'll tear up this town  
Tonight I gotta cut_

 _Now I gotta cut loose, footloose  
Kick off the Sunday shoes  
Please, Louise, pull me off of my knees  
Jack, get Mack, come on before we crack_

 _Shit, now what?_ She said to herself. She had listened the song but didn't know the lyrics very well. She knew she had to come up with a song of her own quickly, or everything would be lost by the time Jesse finished the chorus.

 _Lose your blues, everybody cut footloose_

 _You're playing so cool  
Obeying every rule  
I dig a way down in your heart  
You're burning, yearning for_

And then, she remember a word she could match with a new song. And it was a damn special one, the kind of song that would keep quiet Jesse until she finished it. It was a low punch, but she had to take her chances.

 _Somebody to tell you…_

She interrupted him.

 _…you come see about me?  
I'll be alone, dancing, you know it baby  
Tell me your troubles and doubts  
Giving me everything inside and out_

Jesse was left speechless. _Now it's my turn_. She turned to the Bellas and asked them to help her with the musical background, as they had done years before at the ICCA's Finals.

 _And love's strange so real in the dark  
Think of the tender things that we were working on  
Slow change may pull us apart  
When the light gets into your heart, baby_

All of them remember the lyrics and the choreography, and the whole thing soon turned into a complete party.

 _Don't you forget about me  
Don't, don't, don't, don't  
Don't you forget about me_

The crowd started singing along and Beca knew the Bellas' triumph was sealed.

 _As you walk on by  
Will you call my name?  
As you walk on by  
Will you call my name?  
When you walk away_

 _Or will you walk away?  
Will you walk on by?  
Come on, call my name  
Will you call my name?_

When she realized the last verse from the song was coming up, she rose her right fist as a sign of victory.

 _I say, la!_

"Yes!" Chloe yelled. The other Bellas started screaming and cheering, and so did The High Notes, the BUs and the whole audience. Jesse and the Trebles did it, too, although some of them had long faces.

"I mean, you're welcome!" Beca yelled at Jesse, mirroring their first Riff-Off. He clapped at her, although the surprised expression hadn't abandoned his face.

"What a showdown!" Fred said, visibly satisfied. "Well ladies and gentlemen, this Riff-Off will definitely go down in history as the best one Barden University has ever seen! Beca, girls, congratulations. You did everything right today and that's why I pronounce you…" He kept a moment of silence to add drama. "Winners of this special Riff-Off!" The girls hugged each other. "And now, we have a surprise for you. Gents, please." And then a bunch of waiters arrived carrying tables and they started serving drinks and snacks. The after party had begun, and soon everybody was talking with everybody. It was a very pleasant atmosphere, and Stacie and Fred were giggling in a corner of the pool. Beca, Aubrey and Chloe were staring at them with discretion. Then, Jesse appeared out of nowhere.

"Girls, would you give us a second?" He politely asked Aubrey and Chloe. They nodded and he took Beca by the arm.

"Did you like my little homage to _The Breakfast Club_?" She asked, mischievously. He didn't say anything, just stared at her. "What?"

"I can't believe you beat me with our song." He finally said.

"Our song?" She asked, surprised. "Since when is " _Don't you forget about me_ " our song?"

"Since you sang it to me at the Finals. It was a low punch, Beca." He seemed a little hurt, but also pretty satisfied.

"I know. Right after I started singing I felt bad about it, but it was already too late and you didn't interrupt me, so…"

"I didn't interrupt you because it would have been rude."

"So what are you trying to say? That you let me win?"

"No! I'm just saying I couldn't interrupt you if you were singing our song. It's a special thing for me to hear you sing it, and I just couldn't do it."

She smiled at him and they kept looking at each other for a moment.

"Still," she said after a while, "you can't deny I kicked your ass."

He laughed and kissed her on the cheek.

"You know what? I'm going for a beer. You go back to your friends and we'll discuss this later." He went away and she returned to Aubrey and Chloe. She noticed Stacie and Fred had disappeared.

"Hey, where's Stacie?" She asked Chloe.

Her friend simply winked at her.


	11. Proper training

**A/N: Hi! Hope you had a great weekend, here's chapter 11. It's a short one and it's all Jesse, but what happens on this one will play an important part later on the story. As always R &R, thank you for the interest you have shown on all of this :) Enjoy.**

* * *

The minutes turned into hours, the hours into days and the days into weeks, and in the blink of an eye January was left behind and February took over. The Barden Team had made enormous progress, they hadn't have problems with finding their sound despite their different origins and they had managed to integrate everybody's talent into their musical numbers, and despite some minor incidents (like Alice's constant indiscipline and her vain attempts at hitting on Jesse to make Beca angry, or The High Notes rebelliousness) it was all in full swing and they were ready for Locals. However, Jesse wasn't happy –he was worried. He and Beca kept struggling financially, and although he was having the time of his life preparing everything for the tournament he was afraid he was wasting his time on it instead of looking for other sources of income. Beca was the one who had a stable job and brought more money into the house while he bounced from one temporary job to another, and this bothered him because he didn't want Beca to carry all the burden since they lived together and split all the bills. He wished to gain more money or to have a more stable job, but the truth was that with a bachelor of music degree and little-to-none professional experience his chances of becoming a film score composer were pretty slim. He hoped that with their move to Los Angeles his job opportunities would increase, and he could finally pay Beca all the money he owed her.

However right now he needed to have a question answered, one that had bothered him for a couple of weeks. He took advantage of the fact that Beca was away working and he called Gail Abernathy-McKadden.

"Yes?"

"Hi Mrs. Abernathy-McKadden, I'm Jesse Swanson."

"Jesse! What a nice surprise to hear you again! How's everything going?" She asked him, as happy and chatty as always.

"Great." He answered, but he wanted to cut right to the chase. "Hey listen, the reason why I called is because I have a little question regarding the tournament that I hope you can answer me."

"If it is on my power, my child."

Jesse took a deep breath, thinking in how to formulate his question in a proper way.

"I would like to know if the ICCA is giving us something for participating in it."

"Oh, you mean a prize? I thought it was weird that you didn't ask when we had dinner last month."

"I'm sorry, I didn't want to be rude…"

"I wouldn't had taken it as something rude, but reasonable. After all there's a reason why they say nothing in life is free, right Jesse?"

"Well…" He said, uncomfortable.

"Anyway, the answer is yes. The ICCA will award the winning team with ten thousand dollars."

"To divide them between all the members of the team, I assume."

"You assume wrong. If you win, then each one of you will walk away with ten grand."

Jesse almost dropped his phone to the ground.

"You are joking, right?"

"I never joke with money, Jesse."

"Ten grand for winning an a Capella contest?"

"Is it too little for you?"

For some people ten grand were nothing, but definitely not for Jesse.

"On the contrary, I think is great!"

"We understand most of you have just graduated and that's the time when people generally struggle more with money, you said it yourself when I called you that Sunday. _"Beca and I are on a tight budget"_. I guess ten thousand grand will help you two a lot. "

"They would, they definitely would." He said, trying to contain his enthusiasm.

"Well, now you have an extra motivation to win the tournament. Has my answer made you happy, Jesse?"

"It has. Thank you, Mrs. Abernathy-McKadden."

"You're welcome. Feel free to tell your fellow team members about it so they feel motivated, too."

"I will, thank you again."

"Have a nice day."

"You too."

After he hang up, Jesse remained sat on the chair for a while. His brain was working like crazy. _If we win, Beca will get 10 thousand dollars and so will I. It should be enough for her to pay her debts and for me to pay mine, and with the money we have saved we can move to L.A. and then everything is going to change for us. I should start looking for something so we have a more stablished plan before moving._ At that moment he switched his computer on, but immediately turned it off again as another thought had crossed his mind.

Jesse knew that if he wanted to fulfill his dream of becoming a film score composer he needed something more than a bachelor of music degree. He needed a special talent, advanced studies, contacts and experience. He had the first, but lacked the other ones. He came to the conclusion that he had to use his talent in his favor to get everything else, so after a long consideration he realized that maybe L.A. wasn't the right place for him after all –at least, not in that moment. _If I want to play in the big leagues, I need the proper training for it_. He said to himself.

And then he entered the Berklee School of Music webpage.


	12. Locals

**A/N: Hi, here's chapter 12. As always R &R. Enjoy :)**

* * *

When Beca came back home from work, Jesse immediately told her about his call with Gail.

"Ten grand?"

"Yes."

"Are you sure you heard it right? Didn't she say _one_ grand instead of ten?"

"Believe me Beca, I know the difference between one thousand dollars and ten."

Beca couldn't believe it. That amount of cash was also a lot for her, especially since she hadn't been exactly loaded with money since her father died and her stepmother dried all the bank accounts. She didn't have as many debts as Jesse but still, ten grand would definitely be received by her as a blessing.

"We should tell the others tonight."

And so it was. Most of them received the news with enthusiasm, while others felt it was little money. Alice came from a rich family and she arrogantly said that ten thousand dollars were nothing to her, but everybody ignored her words. Although everything was practically ready they kept practicing the whole month they had left until Locals, which were scheduled to take place on Saturday, March 19th. In the meantime, Jesse had decided to keep his intentions of auditioning for Berklee secret from Beca, as he didn't want to build his hopes up as it was really difficult to get in (and he didn't have money to pay for it, but he had decided to try it anyway). _I have nothing to lose_. He said to himself every day.

Soon, February went by and March arrived, and with it the first knockout of the Ultimate National College a Capella Team Championship (or the UNCCTC, as Gail called it). It was going to be held at the University of Georgia at 6:00 p.m., but they arrived an hour before to get everything ready. When Beca got a chance to watch the other teams while they were preparing their number, she was relieved to see she already knew all of them: Georgia Tech's "Scale of Rock", Emory University's "The Tone Rangers", and University of Georgia's "The Sockapellas", among others. Each team was going to be referred by its university's name, so Beca and co. were simply "Barden University". However, Bellas were wearing their yellow scarfs, Trebles their purple sweatshirts, BUs a silver belt and High Notes green sneakers.

When it was time to start, the host took the stage and welcomed everybody to the event. He read the names of all the teams that were set to compete and they were greeted with applause. Lots of students from the competing universities had gathered to watch the event, besides people from all ages. One by one, the other teams started their performance. Beca wasn't surprised to see that most of them had improved their quality thanks to the tournament's format, but she was confident that the Barden team would have no problem getting into the next round. She didn't think she was being arrogant or over confident, just realist.

Although she had done it many times before, Beca couldn't help to feel a little nervous while waiting to perform, especially since it had been a while since the last time she had done it. Her hands were sweating and she kept rubbing them against each other as she heard the Sockapellas rendition of " _Fallinlove2nite_ ", a Prince song.

"Nervous?" Aubrey asked her from behind.

"A little."

"How long has it been? Nine months?"

"Yeah, almost ten."

"Don't worry, I feel nervous, too. We can do this." She reassured her, with a smile. Beca thought of all the times she had seen Aubrey smile and realized it was something that didn't happen often, as her friend had more of a bad temper. She and Chloe were complete opposites in that department, but they both had the warmest smiles Beca had ever seen and always succeeded in comforting her. In that moment, the Sockapellas finished their number and Beca knew it was their turn. She felt like she had to give some sort of "motivational speech", but she had never been very good with them.

"Ladies and gentlemen, let's give it up for the Barden University!"

"Okay, let's do this." She managed to say. Some of them screamed, while others clapped.

The walked through the aisle forming a line that was headed by Beca. Once they reached the stage, they took their positions. Beca waited for the audience to stop clapping, and then she started counting.

"One, two, three, four."

Donald made a drumroll sound and they all began singing.

 _Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh_

 _Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh!_

Then, Mike Hanson took the lead.

 _Uptown girl_

 _She's been living in her uptown world_

 _I bet she's never had a backstreet guy_

 _I bet her momma never told her why_

 _I'm gonna try for an uptown girl_

 _She's been living in her white bread world_

 _As long as anyone with hot blood can_

 _And now she's looking for a downtown man_

 _That's what I am_

And then it was Donald's turn.

 _And when she knows what_

 _She wants from her time_

 _And when she wakes up_

 _And makes up her mind_

And then Bumper's.

 _She'll see I'm not so tough_

 _Just because_

 _I'm in love with an uptown girl_

 _You know I've seen her in her uptown world_

 _She's getting tired of her high class toys_

 _And all her presents from her uptown boys_

 _She's got a choice_

They danced in pairs and were recreating Billy Joel's choreography from the music video, full of movement and clapping. They sang the whole song with solos from Barb, Tom Graham, Brian Mayer and Emily, whose abilities had significantly improved since the Worlds. When they finished, they received a standing ovation from the audience. _And this was supposed to be a small number!_ Beca thought, with a smile.

They left the stage and went to the seats that had been assigned to them. A couple of teams were left to participate and after the final performance, the host announced the judges' decision.

"Our three finalists are: Georgia Tech!" Some people from the audience clapped while the guys from Georgia Tech hugged each other. "University of Georgia!" They were locals, so the cheering increased. "And Barden University!" Most of them clapped and screamed, while others (like Beca) just smiled.

"See? I told you we could do this." Aubrey whispered in her ear.


	13. Imposing respect

**A/N: Hi everyone, here's chapter 13.** **We are already halfway through, I wanna thank you for your reviews and involvement with my story. Don't worry, everything will get solved at the end. As always R &R. Enjoy :)**

* * *

The next day after Locals was a Sunday, so that meant it was rehearsal day. When Beca and Jesse arrived Chloe was already waiting for them, as always. For her surprise Alice was there, too, and she seemed to be in a bad mood.

"Hi Chloe!" Beca greeted her friend. "Alice," she simply said, "what a surprise to see you here so early."

"If I'm late I'm rude, if I'm early it's a surprise." She answered, apparently offended.

"Maybe on next occasion you should try to arrive just in time." Chloe said, obviously mocking her. Beca tried not to laugh.

"I didn't mean to bother you, I'm sorry. It's nice to have you around this early, that's all." Alice grimaced, but said no more. _At least this time she didn't hit on Jesse_. As always, Beca chose to ignore her and preferred to concentrate on the rehearsal. Everyone had made a terrific job the previous night (even Alice), so she thought they could do something different that day.

"First of all I would like to congratulate you for how amazing you were last night." She said, when everyone had arrived. They sat in a circle and Beca was inside of it. "Seriously, each and every one of you did exactly what you were supposed to do and it went better than I expected."

"Then she wasn't expecting a lot." Alice whispered to Brian Mayer, and they both giggled. They thought nobody had heard them, but Fat Amy did.

"Oh, Beca never has high expectations because she says it's better to expect the worst." She said, dismissively. "She knows what we are capable of, but she doesn't like to build her hopes up."

"So she thought we were going to ruin it? She didn't trust us?" Alice answered back.

"Sounds like it. She only trusts her beloved Bellas." He said with contempt.

"The ones she is familiar with, of course."

"Hey bitch, what's your problem?" Said Stacie, angry.

"Oh, now we can't express our opinions out loud?" Answered Alice, with false indignation.

"Well you didn't precisely scream it, you whispered it to each other like the couple of rats you are." Said Chloe, who was starting to lose her temper.

"So freedom of speech isn't valid in here?" Said Brian.

"Not if you express your opinions with the sole intention of being a total jerk." Said Aubrey.

"Besides if you mess with Beca you mess with us. I think you would have it clear by now." Added Emily, who happened to be sitting beside him. Jesse and Benji were about to say something too, and it seemed like everything was about to get out of control. Beca decided to interrupt them.

"Guys, stop it!" She yelled, right before Jesse threw another punch. She then realized that lately she was always the one to interrupt fights between her team mates. "First of all, if there's something you two don't like about me," she said, looking directly at Brian and Alice, "you can tell me, I don't mind being criticized. You can ask any of the Bellas right here, there's nothing I enjoy more than constructive criticism because I only care about us being better. However, if there's something I hate is people talking behind my back. That's the cowards' way, and I despise people who never dare to say things face to face. You don't know anything about me, I'm aware of that. You have no reason to trust me because you don't know me in any way. _"Who put that 5' 2" goblin in charge?"_ You must be thinking." Although the joke was funny, nobody laughed. The atmosphere resembled that of a classroom, when the teacher scolds one of the students for being rude to a fellow classmate. Beca knew she was about to say the douchiest thing ever, but she had to take her chances. "You two don't have any idea of what is like to win an ICCA Championship three times in a row. You don't know what is like to be on a stage, performing for people from all over the world with the odds against you, but still becoming World Champions. You don't know the feeling, but I do."

"Ouch." She heard Jesse say behind her.

"You have the chance of actually winning something, are you willing to throw it all away just because you don't like me? I know, I know I just sounded like a complete douche, but come on guys, we've been working together for two months! I thought we had left the irrational hate behind us like four weeks ago. Make no mistake, I wanna win this. I really want to, and not just because I need that money desperately, but because this is going to be my last competition and I want to go off with a bang. We are a team, and if we are going to do this we need each other. The choice is yours to make, but I can't do this alone. I need you –all of you." She said, looking directly at Brian and Alice. "So, what is gonna be?"

She stopped for a few seconds to see the impact her words had made in her team mates. Aubrey, Chloe and Jesse seemed as if there were about to give her a standing ovation, while Emily looked at her with admiration. The other ones were very serious, but Beca knew they weren't the problem.

"I'm sorry." Brian said, after a while. "I know I have been an ass, but you are right. I apologize." He said, and Beca realized he was being honest. She then looked at Alice, who seemed angrier than before.

"What about you, Alice?"

It took her a while to answer the question.

"Okay." She simply said. Beca immediately knew she was lying, but she though it would be better to leave things like that.

"Okay." She then pretended nothing had happened. "So, what do you think we should do today? It's true, we should start preparing ourselves for next round but we deserve to rest at least once, don't you think?"

"Yeah!" They answered back.

"We could sing." Proposed Bumper. "Maybe one of us could start with a song, then somebody else continues with a different one until we complete the turn."

"Sounds great." Said Beca. "Do you agree?" They all nodded. "Okay, who wants to go first?" And a bunch of hands rose in the air.

"That's what I call imposing respect." Said Aubrey, proudly.


	14. The plan

**A/N: Hi! Hope you are having a great day. Here's chapter 14, enjoy :)**

* * *

"Oh no, not my factory you motherf…!"

From the shower, Jesse could hear Beca's screams while playing _Age of Empires III_. Although it was an old game, she enjoyed it so much that she could spend the entire night playing it. He couldn't help but laugh at her intensity.

"Son of a bitch! Go to hell stupid Napoleon! GO TO FREAKING HELL!"

"Has he destroyed your town center?" He asked her from the bathroom.

"Yeah, but some of my settlers managed to run away. I haven't lost war yet." She answered back. Beca's determination was present in every aspect of her life, so naturally a virtual opponent was not going to defeat her so easily.

"If it makes you feel better, think of the Battle of Waterloo!"

"Damn it!" Jesse assumed Napoleon's _Cuirassiers_ had managed to find Beca's settlers and had killed them all, so that meant she had been defeated.

" _Je suis désolé_." He said, as he entered the room. " _Vous êtes toujours le meilleur_."

" _Merci_." They had taken French lessons together months ago, although Jesse proved to be better with it than Beca. She was still frustrated with her loss. "You know what? I'm gonna ask for a rematch and I will kick his ass."

"That would be great." He said. "Hey Beca, I have a little idea for tomorrow night."

"What happens tomorrow?"

"Well, it is your birthday in case you have forgotten it."

"Oh, really?" She answered, still concentrated on her game.

"March 24th, 1992. I could never forget it." He said, but Beca forgetting her birthday didn't surprise him. He knew that since her parents' divorce, she used to spend every birthday with her dad. Dr. Mitchell was diagnosed with a brain tumor the previous July and died in October, and Beca had suffered a lot. Jesse wanted to do something special for her birthday, but his lack of money prevented him from taking her someplace nice. Instead, he had decided to buy her a unique present that didn't feel as common as roses, chocolates or stuff like that.

"Well, what's your idea?"

"We could go to "Waffle House" and, you know, grab a snack and a good cup of coffee or a beer. And then we could go to the park and walk a little, or if you prefer we could come back home and watch a movie or something. What do you say?"

Beca looked up from the laptop. Her witty blue eyes were looking at Jesse with a mix of curiosity and suspicion.

"Okay, what did you do, dude?"

Jesse was caught off guard, and didn't know what to say.

"What do you mean with that?"

"You are using _that_ tone, the one you always use when you feel guilty about something you did and you want to compensate me for it."

"I…" He mumbled, although he tried to make his voice sound completely normal.

"You don't like going out." She said, squinting at him. "You've said it yourself, if you could remain in your house forever you would do it in the blink of an eye." She said, as she closed her laptop. "Do you remember New Year's Eve? You got really drunk and you felt so bad that you changed all four tires of the car and bought a new stereo, even when I was drunk as well."

"Come on…"

"And last month when you forgot to take out the trash? You felt so guilty that you took me out for an ice-cream."

"Don't be unfair, I'm always nice to you without having done something wrong!"

"Naturally! You are the nicest guy in the world and I don't doubt that you want us to go out because of my birthday, but I also know you pretty well and I can see that you are nervous."

She was right. Jesse was a terrible liar and anybody could tell he was lying in a heartbeat. However, he still tried to deny it.

"Beca, I…"

"Come on Jesse, whatever it is you can tell me! You know I prefer honesty. I'm a big girl, I can take it." She said, and Jesse knew she had him backed against the wall. He felt defeated.

"Nothing gets unnoticed by you, right?"

"What can I say? I'm pretty perceptive." She simply answered.

"Fine, I will tell you."

He sat in the bed beside her, cross-legged. He took a moment to clear his thoughts.

"I'm waiting."

"Okay. I've been thinking about this for a couple of weeks…"

"Hold on," Beca said, with a hint of panic in her voice, "you are not breaking up with me, right?"

"What? No, I would never do that!"

"That's a relief." She said. "Please, continue."

"Well, like I was telling you, I've given this some careful consideration. I still haven't done it yet, just to clarify, and I'm not sure if I'll ever do it…"

"Just cut to the chase." She hurried him.

"I'm getting there!" He took a deep breath. "I'm not sure L.A. is the best place for me right now."

She looked at him, visibly surprised.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean…" He said. _Moment of truth_. "If I want to have a chance of becoming a film score composer it's not enough that I have a degree in music. There's a lot of people out there with the same qualifications that I have, who are pretty talented and have a dream to fulfill."

"Go on." She encouraged him.

"Film scoring is a competitive world. If I want to convince people to hire me, then I have to show them that I'm better than the other hundred guys and girls they have met."

"I agree. Music is a very competitive business, you tell me! It doesn't matter if you are an aspiring rock star or a film score composer, you are always gonna have it hard."

"Yeah, that's true."

"But I still don't understand, what does it have to do with L.A. not being the right place for you?"

"Well, a bizarre idea crossed my mind a couple of weeks ago. I thought about auditioning for Berklee."

She looked at him with her eyes wide open.

"Berklee? As in Boston?" He just nodded. "Well, that's something I wasn't expecting." She simply said. "You know? We have been together for almost four years and you can still surprise me. That speaks very well of you." She was obviously mocking him as a way to cope with the surprise.

"I know, I know it's a stupid idea…"

"I don't think it's stupid, there's nothing stupid with having a dream. Still, I don't really understand what you were planning to do. Boston is very different than L.A. We barely have money to eat and Berklee costs at least sixty grand a year."

"Good news is that I haven't done anything yet, but you insisted you wanted to know, so I'll tell you what? Let's forget I even said it, okay? I realized what an idiotic idea it was right after it occurred to me, it costs a fortune and it's really hard to get in, so…" He said, standing up.

"Wait," Beca interrupted him, putting her hand on his shoulder, "don't you wanna know what I have to say?"

"Didn't you say it already?"

She ignored him.

"It's expensive? Yes. The possibilities of you getting admitted are practically nonexistent? Yes. It's risky? Yes. However, I think you should do it anyway."

Jesse couldn't believe it.

"Are you serious?"

"Yes. I mean, you have nothing to lose, right? And I don't think it would be fair for you to spend the rest of your life wondering what would have happened if you had taken the risk."

"What about the money?"

"There's this thing called scholarships and student loans, although I definitely prefer the first one. You have always been a straight A's student, right? You had a 3.8 GPA, so I guess you are an excellent candidate." Jesse didn't say anything, just stared at her. "There's always a way, Jesse. Nothing is impossible." Beca's " _Always Look on the Bright Side of Life_ " attitude was a little surprising, especially for someone who had known her for years.

"Why are you supporting me? I mean I thank you for it, but why?"

"Because you have supported me unconditionally all these years, and I think it's time for me to give you back a little of all that you have given me."

"Well, I didn't do it because I was expecting something in return."

"I know, you are not like that at all. However I still think it would be fair. You never ask for anything for God's sake, you deserve a little prize."

Jesse wasn't entirely convinced yet.

"But what about L.A.? It was your dream to go there."

"It was when I was 18, but I didn't know anything at that age."

"You were smarter than most people I knew. You still are."

Beca couldn't help but smile at his compliment.

"I only wanted to go to L.A. because you wanted it."

"Seriously?" He asked, pretty surprised.

"Yeah! Of course living in L.A. would be pretty nice, but it wasn't something I wished with all my heart and soul." She started walking around the room. "Why do you think I'm still working at _Residual Heat_? Obviously because I wanna become a music producer, but also because I wanted to gain experience, learn about the business so when we went to L.A. I could aspire to a better job. You know what they say to people with no experience when they apply for jobs."

"Tell me about it." He said, dejected. "So, what exactly do you want to do?"

"Okay, here's what's gonna happen: you are gonna send your papers to Berklee and apply for a scholarship. When the tournament ends, we will move to L.A. as we had planned. You will get a job, I will get a job and we'll keep going on with our lives just like we are doing now. If you get admitted, then you'll go to Boston and I'll join you there later, if you don't mind. If you don't get in, then we'll stay in L.A. and we pretend nothing ever happened." She made a pause to give him time to think. "So, what do you say?"

Beca's plan sounded really attractive, Jesse had to admit.

"Sounds pretty good."

"Okay then, so we're doing it!" She turned to keep her laptop in one of the drawers and when she looked back at him, she caught him staring at her.

"What now?"

"It's not because of the Berklee thing that I wanted to take you out tomorrow night." He clarified.

"Oh, I know that! I just wanted you to tell me your secret, that's all." She said, and gave him one of her characteristic smirks.


	15. The wishing ball

**A/N: Hi again, here's chapter 15. Hope you enjoy it :) As always R &R.**

* * *

On Thursday morning, Beca was woken up by Chloe's traditional birthday call at 6:30 a.m.

"Happy birthday you awesome nerd!" Her friend screamed from the other side of the phone. Chloe had forgotten to congratulate Beca for her 20th birthday, as they weren't close friends back then. She had felt so bad that she made the promise of being the first person to congratulate Beca on every birthday. She then started singing " _Happy birthday_ " and gave Beca a few seconds to be fully awake.

"Aww, thanks dude! You are so nice."

"You're welcome. Is your boyfriend up already?"

"No, but I guess he'll be soon."

"So was I the one who woke you up?"

"Yeah."

"Great, mission accomplished for another year."

"No, it's not great. I hate you because I was dreaming I got to make out with Bradley Cooper."

"Reality is so much better, Beca. So, what are you guys doing today?"

"Well," Beca said, as she went to the kitchen to make some coffee, "we are going to work like always, but Jesse is taking me to "Waffle House" for some dinner and then for a beer."

"Cool."

"Hey, don't you wanna come?" Beca asked her, while pouring some water on a cup.

"No, no, no, you know I hate being a third wheel."

"You are not!"

"You'll see, that's what people tell their friends to not make them feel bad about being a third wheel. I'm the only one still single from my group of friends, I know the drill."

"Aubrey is single, too."

"And she will be forever, I don't think there's a man out there that will be able to handle her temper, or girl for all that matters."

Beca laughed. Aubrey and Chloe were best friends and they used to tease each other with their singleness like that all the time. They had even made a deal years ago: if they reached forty without a significant other, they would get married. Beca thought it was a strange agreement, but she later learned there was nothing strange about her friends' peculiar friendship.

"Jesse won't mind, he really likes you. I'll tell you what, why don't I ask him and I give you a call?"

"If you want to."

"And I can invite the other girls if it makes you feel less uncomfortable."

"You are the birthday girl. Listen, I gotta go but we'll talk later."

"Okay."

"And in case we don't see each other tonight you already know I only wish the best for you."

"Thanks, I'm touched."

"You're welcome. See ya."

Chloe hung up and Beca kept preparing her coffee. When she was done, she sat down at the table and began drinking it. At that moment, Jesse sneaked out behind her and almost made her drop her cup.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" He said, and then kissed her in greeting. Beca couldn't help but remember the Trebles' Tiki party from senior year, when she had done the exact same thing to him. He took a sip from her coffee and sat beside her.

"You have to stop doing that, or next time I'll throw my coffee at you." She said, joking.

He was looking at her with his chin resting on his hand, as if he were contemplating her.

"How's the birthday girl?" He asked her, with his smooth voice.

"Right now I would kill for one more hour of sleep." She said, rubbing her eyes. "Hey, can I ask you something?" He nodded. "Do you mind if I invite the girls to have dinner with us tonight?"

"Why would I?"

"Because you wanted us to be by ourselves."

"It's your birthday and they are your friends. I've always liked them, you know that. As a matter of fact if you hadn't asked I would have done it myself."

"Yeah, but…"

"Bec, you know I'm not one of those guys who hate their girlfriends' friends. I actually like them very much! Although I don't know if they like me."

"They do. A lot." And it was true. Jesse was such a charming and funny guy that he always had Beca's friends laughing tears.

"It's settled then. You call them and you tell them to meet us there." He said, with a smile. Beca stood up and grabbed his head with her hands.

"Perfect boyfriend is perfect." She said, and gave him a kiss. "I'm going to take a bath now."

"Okay."

"You can finish my coffee!" She yelled from the bathroom.

"Cool." Jesse said, and emptied the cup.

* * *

At 7:00 p.m., Jesse and Beca arrived at "Waffle House". Aubrey, Chloe and Emily were set to meet them there, but the other girls weren't available. It was a nice March evening, there was some air blowing but it was a clear night, perfect for taking a walk outside.

"Wait, I'm gonna throw my gum. Get inside." Beca said, and walked over a trash can.

"Okay." Jesse thought it would be better to wait for her, and laid his back against the wall of the building.

"Jesse?" He heard a voice calling him from behind. He turned and saw Alice coming out from the diner with a guy his same age. She said something to him and he went away.

"Alice, how you doing?" He asked, politely.

"Great, actually! And you?"

"I'm good, thanks."

"Did you come alone?" She asked him, with a smile. Jesse felt really uncomfortable whenever she did that.

"Actually, I came with…" he started to say, but Beca arrived at that exact moment.

"Alice! What a surprise to find you here, I never took you for a diner kind of girl." She greeted her.

Alice grimaced, discreetly.

"I am not, I came here with my brother." She pointed at the young man Jesse had seen her coming out of the diner with. He was inside a car, on the driver's seat. "He is visiting from Connecticut and he loves this place's milkshakes, so…"

"Oh, you should really try the chocolate ones." Jesse said, and there was an awkward silence afterwards.

"So you guys come here often?" Alice asked them.

"We do, actually. Although we are here tonight to celebrate Beca's birthday." Jesse answered, and put his arm around Beca's shoulders.

"Really?" Alice said, surprised. "Well, congratulations." Beca made a small bow. "How old are you?"

"I'm 24."

"Aww, you are such a kid!" Although she tried to make it sound like a compliment, she failed miserably. Jesse knew Alice's true intention was to insult Beca, and he was afraid of what she would answer her.

"Yeah. Well, I'd like to enjoy being a kid as much as I can. I'm aware my youth will be gone someday, you know… just like yours."

Jesse had to stop himself from laughing.

 _Ouch, what a burn!_

Alice's face turned white, but she tried to hide her anger under a fake smile.

"Well, I believe it's best to feel young at heart."

"I totally agree with you, it's just I don't wanna get your age and feel like there was something else I could have done."

 _Double burn!_

"I wish we could chat longer but my brother is waiting for me." Alice said, now not so good at trying to dissimulate her displeasure. "Have a good night, and congratulations again." She then entered the car and they drove away.

"Funny, I didn't know you were so good at comebacks." Jesse told Beca as they entered the diner.

"I'm not, but Alice inspires me." She answered, and they both laughed.

They chose a table that was right at the corner. Just when they were sitting, Beca's friends arrived.

"Hey, you won't believe who I just saw driving away from here." Chloe said, after she hugged Beca.

"Who?" Jesse asked.

"Alice! It's funny though, I never took her for a diner kind of girl."

"We saw her, too. We even had a nice, little chat." Beca said, while hugging Aubrey and Emily.

"Well, it wasn't so nice for her." Jesse pointed out.

"Why? What did you do?" Aubrey asked, while sitting on her chair.

"Beca completely smacked her down when Alice tried to make fun of her." Jesse said, proudly.

"She called me a kid!"

"And Beca called her "old" the classiest way possible. I quote: " _I'm aware my youth will be gone someday, you know… just like yours_.""

"Oh my God, really?" Emily asked, impressed. "Wow Beca, I thought you were bad at comebacks!"

"Yeah, let's not forget " _Your sweat smells like cinnamon!_ " That was amazing." Said Chloe, imitating Beca's voice.

They spent the next two hours talking and laughing. Jesse was his usual charming, but he tried to give Beca and her friends their space to talk as much as he could. He really liked watching them interact, and seeing Beca relaxing and fooling around with her girlfriends made him the happiest man in the world. He knew she loved him and enjoyed spending time with him, but he was also aware that her friends were her friends.

"And then he told me I was a fail. You wanna know what I told him?" Chloe was telling them about a terrible date she'd had with a guy the previous week, and how he ended up being a total jerk despite his initial sympathy.

"What?" Beca asked, while taking a sip from her tea.

"I told him: " _Well, like your dad's condom_."" She said, and they all burst into laugh.

At 9:00 p.m. they left "Waffle House" and parted ways to their respective homes, not before Aubrey, Chloe and Emily gave Beca their birthday gifts: Aubrey gave her a black leather jacket, Chloe a music note necklace and Emily a panda stuffed animal. Jesse took Beca for a beer at a local bar and by the time they arrived home, she felt so tired that she wanted to go directly to sleep.

"Wait," Jesse told her before she went to bed, "what about my gift?"

"You bought me something?" She asked, surprised.

"Like every year." He said, and pulled a cardboard box from under the bed.

"I though this year was going to be different." She simply said, as Jesse deposited the package on her hands.

"Just open it. It's not something big, but I hope you like it."

Beca opened the box and took out a circular object that was carefully wrapped in protective plastic. She unwrapped it and unveiled a small, glass ball. It was light blue and seemed hand made. Beca looked at it from all angles, visibly curious.

"What is this?"

"It's a wishing ball."

"A what?"

"A wishing ball. Let me explain it to you." Jesse took the ball with his left hand. "According to the creator the idea is to capture a wish or accomplishment for the year to come. Each ball comes with 52 of these." He said, as he pulled a small plastic bag from the cardboard box. Inside where lots of tiny slips of paper. "Once a week you record a message in one of the slips, you coil it up and tuck it in this tiny hole." He pointed to a spot near the base.

"Wow." Beca said, very interested.

"However, there's a catch. Once you introduce a slip, you can't take it out. The creator says it's because, when you look at the wishing ball, she wants you to think about the big picture those messages convey."

"Yeah, I get it. Rereading the slips would be like cheating. It would force you to reconsider your wish, make you walk backwards."

Jesse handed her the ball, and she took it with lots of care.

"Do you like it?" He asked her.

"I love it." She said, and held it tightly against her chest.

"I hope it isn't corny or anything." He said, a little mortified.

"No, it's not." She was quick to point out. "It's sweet and unique, just like you." And she gave him a smile.

"I hope you had a good birthday."

She carefully wrapped the wishing ball with the protective plastic and deposited back in the box, and then threw her arms around Jesse's neck.

"The best one I can remember." And she slowly kissed him.


	16. Regionals

**A/N: Hi, here's chapter 16. It's short but also quite important. Hope you enjoy it, as always R &R :)**

* * *

During the remaining week of March and the first half of April the Barden Team prepared for the second round of the UNCCTC, the Regional competition. The top two teams got to advance to the Finals, and Beca knew it was going to be a bit harder this time around. The competition was set to take place on April 16th, at the Schnee Performing Arts Center in Atlanta. The Barden Team was singing a mashup of " _Safe and Sound_ " and " _Roar_ " (courtesy of Beca's abilities). Joe and Greg would sing the Capital Cities' song while Alice and Hannah would take the lead with Katy Perry's hit single. The mashup sounded great and Beca was very proud of it, and considered it one of her finest jobs.

"You have really outdone yourself, Beca." Aubrey had told her after finishing the last rehearsal before the competition.

"I hope it's enough to get us to the Finals."

"Are you kidding? This is pure gold. Georgia Tech doesn't stand a chance!" Her competitive friend seemed very excited about returning to a National Championship Final.

When they arrived at the Performing Center, they could hear Florida State University's "The music commanders" singing Pearl Jam's " _Even Flow_ ", a strange choice for an a Capella competition. However they were doing it nicely, and Beca felt worried they might represent an important obstacle on their way. She shared her anxiety with Chloe.

"They are not bad, but your mashups are legendary." She told her, while warming up.

"But what about Georgia Tech? They are very good and I'm sure they will give everything on their performance."

"Yeah but we are giving everything, too. Don't worry, we only have to beat one of them. I'm sure we will." Chloe reassured her, and squeezed her hand. Beca was afraid that not only "The music commanders" had improved their skills, but everyone else as well. She decided not to express her concerns.

After "The music commanders" finished their performance, the University of Georgia's "Sockapellas" took the stage. They sang an arrangement of " _Penny Lane_ ", a famous Beatles' song. It was a good one, but unfortunately for them they lost the audience halfway through and never managed to recover their attention. Beca realized there was no way they were getting to the Finals, but still felt bad for them.

After the "Sockapellas" were done it was Georgia Tech's turn. During her years as a Bella Beca had only competed against them in one occasion, at junior year. They weren't exactly great performers, and nobody felt threatened by them at any competition. However, they had showed great potential at Locals and had finished at second place dangerously close to Barden. They were an all-male group and a competition Beca didn't expect to have, and she was aware that they were their number one rivals in the search for a place at the Finals. She was really intrigued at what they had chosen to sing. Her doubts were solved at the moment they started singing " _Uptown Funk_ ".

"Oh no!" She heard Cynthia Rose gasp behind her, and she felt the urge to do the same. As their song progressed, Beca's confidence started to drop because of how amazing their performance was. The guys had learned the choreography perfectly and danced all through the stage, clapping and singing. They smiled and winked at the crowd without losing their rhythm and synchronization. Beca thought it was one of the most amazing performances she had seen in her four years as an a Capella singer. When they were done they received a standing ovation from the audience.

"Damn!" Aubrey said, furious. "What are we gonna do now?"

"Don't worry, they were good but we are better." Jesse said, with his usual optimism.

"Top two teams advance to the finals, and we already know one of them." Chloe said. "Let's become the other one."

"Yeah, let's do this!" Bumper screamed, and made Beca regain some of her confidence. They came on stage and made a circle around Joe and Greg, who were the only ones who were using microphones. When the public stopped clapping, the duo began singing.

 _I could lift you up_

 _I could show you what you wanna see_

 _And take you where you wanna be_

 _You could be my luck_

 _Even if the sky is falling down_

 _I know that we'll be safe and sound_

The original song had a very enjoyable rhythm and was easy to dance, and Beca had done an amazing job adapting it for an a Capella version. The two lead singers were doing the same choreography than the guys from Capital Cities on the music video, while the rest of the team danced around them following the music.

 _I could fill your cup_

 _You know my river won't evaporate_

 _This world we still appreciate_

 _You could be my luck_

 _Even in a hurricane of frowns_

 _I know that we'll be safe and sound_

And then they made the transition to " _Roar_ ". Joe and Greg handed the microphones to Alice and Hannah, and the young girl took the lead.

 _I used to bite my tongue and hold my breath_

 _Scared to rock the boat and make a mess_

 _So I sat quietly, agree politely_

 _I guess that I forgot I had a choice_

 _I let you push me past the breaking point_

 _I stood for nothing, so I fell for everything_

Then it was Alice's turn.

 _You held me down, but I got up_

 _Already brushing off the dust_

 _You hear my voice, you hear that sound_

 _Like thunder gonna shake the ground_

 _You held me down, but I got up_

 _Get ready 'cause I've had enough_

 _I see it all, I see it now_

Then they were supposed to sing the chorus and dance together, but the unthinkable happened. As Hannah continued with the song as planned, Alice suddenly stood in front of everyone and started singing a different song.

 _This is how we do, yeah, chilling, laid back_

 _Straight stuntin' yeah we do it like that_

 _This is how we do, do do do do, this is how we do_

Hannah was so surprised that she stopped moving. She was not the only one as Barb, Aubrey and some of the Trebles did the same thing. Beca was petrified and felt as if someone had thrown a bucket of cold water all over her. She looked at Jesse and then at Chloe, whose face was filled with a mix of astonishment and terror. Beca realized everybody's eyes were looking at her but surprisingly, she didn't know what to do. She felt so shocked that was incapable of doing anything, from moving to speaking. The audience, who had been singing along, suddenly went quiet.

 _Bitch! I'm gonna kill her!_ She thought.

After a few seconds of awkward silence, Emily suddenly came out of nowhere and snatched the microphone from Alice's hands. She then started singing her song " _Flashlight_ ", the one Beca had helped her record at _Residual Heat_ a year before.

 _When tomorrow comes_

 _I'll be on my own_

 _Feeling frightened of_

 _The things that I don't know_

 _When tomorrow comes_

 _Tomorrow comes_

 _Tomorrow comes_

She then motioned at her team mates to join her, and they all did it amazingly quickly. Chloe and Beca started singing beside her, while Alice headed to the side of the stage and disappeared.

 _And though the road is long_

 _I look up to the sky_

 _And in the dark I found,_

 _I lost hope that I won't fly_

 _And I sing along, I sing along_

 _And I sing along_

They started moving at the song's rhythm. While the boys did the backing vocals, the girls continued with the chorus. Apparently some of the people from the audience had learned of their little odyssey at the Worlds, so they turned on the flashlights from their phones and started waving them in the air, to Beca's relief.

 _I got all I need when I got you and I_

 _I look around me, and see a sweet life_

 _I'm stuck in the dark but you're my flashlight_

 _You're getting me, getting me through the night_

 _Can't stop my heart when you shinin' in my eyes_

 _Can't lie, it's a sweet life_

 _I'm stuck in the dark but you're my flashlight_

 _You're getting me, getting me through the night_

And then, as if they had rehearsed it a million times, they went quiet at exactly the same time. Although the crowd had been caught by surprise by Alice's treachery they responded very positively at their last-minute improvisation. Beca and the others forced a smile, although the tension could be easily felt running through them. They made a small bow and went backstage, still shocked by what had just happened.


	17. A convenient incident

**A/N: Hi, here's chapter 17. It's very short because I just posted a new one yesterday. Hope you enjoy it :) As always R &R.**

* * *

Beca was the last one to leave the stage after their improvised performance and found her friends arguing backstage. Some of them seemed really angry, while others were just immersed in their thoughts. Beca herself was infuriated.

"Where is she?" She asked Chloe. She could feel the heat running through her body.

"She left." Her friend answered. She was also visibly altered.

"What do you mean she left?"

"She abandoned the ship, made like the wind and blew, deserted… whatever you like to call it." Fat Amy said.

"The sneaky coward ran away." Emily could barely hide her disgust.

Beca untied her scarf from her right wrist and angrily threw it to the floor.

"Damn it!" She yelled in frustration.

"I knew that backstabbing bitch was not trustworthy." Bumper said, oddly calmed.

"Beca, what are we going to do?" Stacie asked, preoccupied.

"I…" Beca didn't know what to do or say, which was weird as she was rather good working under pressure. She knew everyone was looking at her, waiting for her move. That made her feel extremely overwhelmed.

"Do you think she ruined us?" Aubrey seemed at the edge of a nervous attack.

"I don't know. She could have, but I hope not. She completely destroyed our performance and it was pretty obvious we improvised, so that could really hurt us at the end."

"Beca, I'm sorry for what I did back there. I didn't know what else to do and I acted out of nowhere…" Emily started to say, mortified, but Beca interrupted her by putting her hand on her arm.

"You don't have to apologize for anything, Emily." She reassured her. "In fact, if we stand a chance is because of what you did. You took the situation in your hands and carried the whole team on your shoulders."

Emily's face relaxed and Chloe hugged her.

"So you think there's still hope?" Asked Benji.

"Yeah. The guys from Georgia Tech are obviously in. University of Georgia is definitely out, but I have my doubts about Florida State. The rest of them are the least of our problems. We'll just have to wait and see how South Carolina does it."

"Why do we always have to be humiliated at our best moment?" Cynthia-Rose asked, exasperated.

"I have asked myself the same question many times before." Aubrey answered. In that moment the University of South Carolina took the stage. It was an all-female group, "The tune fairies", and Beca was silently praying for them to do something embarrassing during their number for Barden to have hopes of getting to the Finals, not without feeling a little guilty. They all gathered behind the scenes, right by the theater's _legs_ to have a closer look at the group's performance.

"What are we waiting for?" Hannah asked, with some fear.

"A miracle." Fat Amy answered. Hannah rose an eyebrow. "Oh, you mean literally? Well, we are waiting for the Fairies to blow their number for us to have a chance at advancing to the Finals."

"That's reassuring."

"The tune fairies" were performing Coldplay's " _Every Teardrop is a Waterfall_ ", a climatic and enjoyable song that somewhat felt flat on its a Capella version. However they were well synchronized, their choreography was very acrobatic and they were performing it perfectly. Beca could feel how a strong sensation of defeat invaded her, and she didn't like it. She was Beca "effin" Mitchell, she wasn't used to feel that way. She knew it sounded arrogant, but it was the truth. She felt so impotent and angry that was almost sure she could make Alice bleed if she only had her in front of her.

For the climatic part of the song, some of the Fairies formed pairs. One of them had to flip the other to make a sophisticated pirouette. However, one of the girls failed to do so and fell over backwards, and hit her partner on her way to the ground. This caused the girl to lose her balance and she fell, too, and their team mates stopped their dance to help them stand up. A few people from the audience laughed. The Fairies' accident had caught Beca by surprise, and she gasped. She wasn't the only one tho, as most people had their hands covering their mouths. Beca could perfectly imagine the nasty commentator, John Smith, making inappropriate jokes about the girls' unfortunate incident.

"Oh my God, are they okay?" She heard Barb ask behind her. Beca poked her head a little more to have a clearer view of the stage, and saw both girls standing up with help from their friends. Their faces had pained expressions but they seemed okay, to Beca's relief. They left the stage and the audience began clapping.

"Yes, they are okay." Beca answered. She then turned to see the others.

"I think we did it." Aubrey said, after a long silence. She knew better that a mistake like that could destroy anyone's chances at getting to the next round.

"I believe it's fair to say Alice is out." Chloe pointed out, and they all nodded.

"Yeah." Beca simply said, and deeply exhaled in relief. She then realized her scarf was still on the floor, so she picked it up and tied it back to her wrist as if nothing had happened.


	18. A physical showdown

**A/N: Hi! Here's chapter 18. Things are starting to get physical! Hope you enjoy it, as always R &R :)**

* * *

On Sunday, Beca and her friends got together at the empty dance studio to discuss what had happened the night before at the semi-finals. They had agreed to meet half an hour before usual to talk about Alice's future, and decided it was time for her to leave the team for good.

"Well, she has already left us." Stacie said. "I don't think she will have the balls to return after what she did." She, Beca, Aubrey, Chloe and Jesse were talking in the studio's seats, while the others had distributed around the place.

"Oh, I wouldn't count on that." Chloe quickly pointed out. "That cynical brat will come with her head high and pretend nothing ever happened."

"Do you really think that?" Jesse asked.

"I'm sure."

"Well, I don't mind if she does." Beca said. "I want to kick her out myself after her little move almost costs us a place in the Finals."

"I don't mean to sound bitchy or anything, but we were lucky the girls from South Carolina fell during their number –like, really lucky." Aubrey said.

"Yeah, we were. But none of that matters anymore. Right now we need to concentrate on the next phase. We have a month and a half to prepare for it, and without Alice's treachery we can pull out something great."

They kept talking for some minutes until Beca saw Alice entering the room. She was walking with a swagger, as always, and her arrogant attitude was more present than ever. Like Chloe had said before she had her head held high, and Beca thought she was either very brave or very stupid.

"Well, well, well, look who decided to join us." Chloe said while standing up. She walked towards Alice until she was only a few inches away from her. "You got a lot of guts coming here after what you pulled." The _Star Wars_ reference didn't go unnoticed to Beca. "What do you want?"

"What do you mean, Chloe?" Alice asked, with fake surprise.

"Don't play stupid Alice, you know what I'm talking about."

"I came here to rehearse for the UNCCTC, like every Sunday for the past three months."

"Oh, so you aren't pretending. You really are stupid!"

Everyone gathered around and looked at them, intrigued. Chloe seemed so mad that Beca strongly believed she was going to hit her.

"I think we should intervene before it gets worse." Jesse whispered to her, like reading Beca's mind. Chloe and Alice kept arguing in the background.

"Yeah, we should." She then approached Chloe, grabbed her by the arm and took her away, while Jesse did the same with Alice.

"Beca, let me go!" She said, and released herself from Beca's hand.

"Chloe, calm down. You will get nowhere if you lose control like that." Beca told her friend, and she could hear Jesse talking to Alice a few feet away from them.

" _You have to understand you did a terrible thing Alice, you could have ruined us back there._ "

"I'm sorry, but I feel so mad at what she did." She then crossed her arms, like she always did when she was angry. "How can you be so chill about this?"

" _Didn't Beca improvise halfway through the Bellas' performance at her freshman year?"_

" _That was different, she wasn't trying to sabotage them._ "

"Chill? Didn't you see me last night?"

" _Anyway, did you like it?_ "

" _What is that supposed to mean? Of course not!"_

"Either you kick her out right now or I will, Beca. And I assure you, it won't be pretty."

" _Well, I hope you like this._ "

"I was going to…" She then turned and saw the exact moment Alice violently grabbed Jesse by the arms, and gave him a long kiss on the lips. Chloe saw it, too, and gasped. Jesse immediately pulled Alice away, visibly shocked and disgusted.

"What the hell are you doing?" He asked, with horror. Beca was speechless. She had her eyes wide open and her face had turned white. Her fists and teeth were clenched, and could feel a wave of fury invading her from head to toe.

"Beca…" Chloe managed to say. She had gotten scared at her friend's reaction and knew something big was coming. "Beca, don't do it."

It was too late. Beca started walking towards Jesse and Alice filled with rage, and at the moment Alice turned to see her, Beca struck her with all the force her left fist had. It had been such a strong punch that it made Alice loose her balance. She fell to the ground.

"Beca!" Jesse yelled. However, she couldn't hear him. She was as angry as she had never been in her life, and it seemed like her blue eyes were about to pop out of her head. Her left hand had quickly swelled, and it hurt like hell. Beca could have sworn she felt how one of the bones had cracked at the moment of impact.

"Now listen to me, don't you ever come near my boyfriend again or I will end you! Do you understand me?"

Alice didn't say anything, but she seemed as furious as Beca. Her face had swollen in the place where the fist had stuck moments before, and she kept rubbing it to try to ease the pain. Everyone was looking at them, mostly with a mix of surprise and fear in their eyes.

"Do you?!" Beca asked again, clearly losing the few patience she had left. She then took a deep breath and turned away. Because of this, she didn't get to see Alice standing up and running towards her at full speed. The only thing she felt was Alice tackling her from behind and her body falling to the ground, face first. Her hand hit the floor with lots of force, and she screamed in pain. Taking advantage of this and the fact she was considerably bigger than her, Alice rolled Beca over to have her face to face, and started slapping her.

"Guys, stop it!" She heard Stacie scream at the distance. Everybody started moving around them, but Beca's eyes were set on her opponent. Although Alice's slaps had taken her by surprise, Beca quickly recovered and dodged her blow just when she was about to hit her again. She managed to grab Alice by the side and rolled her over, and now she was the one on top. She started hitting her with her right hand, as she could barely move her dominant left. After a few seconds that felt eternal, Jesse, Chloe and Aubrey pulled Beca away from Alice. The three of them were taller than her, but they were having trouble keeping her from moving. Mike and Tom did the same with Alice, but the girl kept throwing punches at the air like crazy, trying to release herself from the two guys. She had a large bruise on the right side of her face where Beca's left fist had stuck, and was bleeding from her swollen left eyebrow. Beca, on the other hand, was practically intact, except from her left hand and a nasty cut on her cheek and lip.

"She attacked me! She attacked me!" Alice was screaming like a maniac. "You all saw it, she almost killed me!"

"Get the hell out, you are no longer welcomed in here!" Beca responded from her corner. "If you dare to come back I swear I will kill you for good!"

"You see? She's kicking me out for no reason! She got mad because I kissed her boyfriend, what kind of excuse is that?"

Emily intervened by putting herself in the middle of both girls.

"No, Alice! Beca isn't kicking you out because you tried to seduce Jesse, she is kicking you out because you are the nastiest piece of shit she has ever met –and I as well, for all that matters." Suddenly, Alice went quiet. She stopped struggling and her body relaxed, although she was still fiery looking at Beca. "Now I'm gonna ask you to leave, or I'll have to take you out myself. Mike, Tom, release her."

They did what Emily asked them to and Alice exited the building, not before turning to look at Beca one last time. Beca could have sworn she saw a tear coming down from her eye. After she was gone, Beca let herself fall into Jesse's arms.

"Okay guys, party's over." Emily said. "You can go home now." However, nobody left. Instead, they all rushed to check on Beca.


	19. A broken hand

**Hi, here's chapter 19. Hope you enjoy it. As always R &R :)**

* * *

After the fight, Jesse sat Beca on a plastic chair and everybody formed a circle around her. Emily had brought her some ice for her left hand. Chloe squatted down in front of her to get a better look at her friend's face.

"Beca, are you okay?" She was visibly concerned.

"Yeah, I think." Beca muttered.

"How many fingers do you see?" asked Chloe as she rose three fingers.

"Three? I couldn't tell because you have weird fingers, each one of them is very close to the other."

"She's making jokes, she's okay." Chloe then stood up, but accidentally touched Beca's injured hand in the process. She began groaning in pain.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!" She apologized. Jesse gently took Beca's hand in his and began examining it.

"The pain hasn't eased?"

"No."

"Even with the ice?"

"I think it has gotten worse."

He kept looking at it from all angles. It was bruised and had swollen considerably, besides the obvious extreme tenderness.

"Can you move it?" Beca tried to, but immediately stopped as it was very painful.

"You think it's broken, right?" She asked him. Jesse had practiced MMA as a teenager, so he knew a few things about fractures.

"Yeah, I think so. We should take you to the hospital for an X-ray."

"I can take you guys if you want, I brought my car." Benji volunteered.

"Me too. It's a minivan, so you will be more comfortable." Aubrey said.

"My uncle works at Piedmont Hospital, he is an orthopedic surgeon. I can call him and ask him to check on you, free of payment." Bumper said, and took out his phone.

"Guys, it's really not necessary…"

"Beca, it's the least we owe you for getting rid of that nasty Alice." Fat Amy reassured her.

"But…"

"Besides, you can't risk permanent damage on your hand. We need you at your best for the Finals!" Chloe told her, with a smile. Beca felt extremely moved by her friends' actions.

"I don't know how to thank you for this." She said, while putting her hand on her heart.

"For starters, by accepting our help."

"Fine." Beca simply said. At that moment, Aubrey took control of the situation.

"Bumper, call your uncle and tell her about Beca's hand. If you allow me Benji, I'll take her to the hospital. The rest of you can go home. Like Emily said, party's over. I will personally update you on Beca's condition, but if you want to stay you are welcome." Most of them left the building, not without shaking Beca's hand or giving her a little kiss on the forehead before.

"If you don't mind, I'd like to stay." Emily said.

"Us, too." Added Stacie, Cynthia-Rose and Fat Amy.

"Naturally me." Chloe said.

"Jesse," Aubrey said, while turning to him, "Beca will be your responsibility. You're gonna make sure that hand remains immobilized, okay?"

"Okay." He answered, with a very responsible tone.

Beca knew how much her friend enjoyed bossing people around, and for the first time she actually liked it.

"Thanks, Aubrey."

"Let's get going then, we can't waste more time."

Beca stood up with help from Cynthia-Rose and Stacie, and Aubrey guided them to her blue minivan that was parked outside the building. She sat in one of the passengers' seats between Jesse and Emily, and her friend helped her buckling up her seat belt. Chloe had taken the co-pilot seat, and Stacie was in the middle of Fat Amy and Cynthia-Rose. The moment Aubrey started the car and began advancing through the streets, Beca finally felt relaxed. She leaned her head against the back of the seat and closed her eyes, although the pain from her hand was killing her. Everything seemed so surreal, and couldn't help but smile when she remembered what she had done a few minutes before.

"Hey," Jesse told her, while grabbing her right hand, "for what is worth, you completely kicked Alice's ass."

"I told you I would beat the shit out of her if she ever tried to make a move on you." She said, with a wink.

"And you damn did!" Emily said, excited. "It's like they always say, you should see the other guy."

"I had never been in a physical fight with someone else before."

"Really?" Fat Amy asked from her seat behind Beca. "Well, you totally nailed it."

"You did something that I have wished about doing for years." Chloe said, while looking at her friend from the co-pilot seat. "You are my idol, Beca."

"No, she is my idol." Emily quickly pointed out.

"Too bad you broke your hand, but it was natural given the amount of force that first punch had." Cynthia-Rose added.

"Oh, it was totally worth it." Stacie said. "Right, Beca?"

"All the way."

"You know? I've always wondered how girls feel when guys fight over them. Thanks to you, that doubt has been solved." Jesse joked, while kissing Beca's hand.

"You are an idiot." She simply said, with a smile.

When they arrived at the Hospital, Jesse accompanied Beca to the E.R. while the girls waited at the parking lot. A triage nurse received them and they gave her the name of Bumper's uncle. They had to stay on the waiting area for a few moments, until the nurse called Beca's name and guided them to an examining room. Then, a middle aged doctor came in.

"Good morning," he friendly greeted them, "you must be Beca, right?" She nodded. "I'm Dr. Allen, Bumper's uncle." They shook hands.

"Nice to meet you Doc, I'm Jesse." He shook hands with him as well.

"My nephew told me you injured your hand at a fight." He said.

"Yeah. I punched a girl all through her face and it's been like this ever since." Beca showed him her left hand, although she had trouble rising it.

"May I?" He asked, and began examining it. Beca started groaning in pain, despite the doctor was doing it with extreme care. He then stood up and wrote something on a little notebook. "Well, it definitely looks like a fracture to me."

"Really?" Beca said, although she already knew it.

"We are going to give you something for the pain, but we must take an X-ray to have a clearer look."

He called a resident named Dr. Ross, a young girl with big grey eyes. She collected some info from them before the procedure, like if there was a chance of Beca being pregnant. After the results were up, Dr. Allen went back to check on them.

"You have what is known as a boxer's fracture." He explained. "A boxer's fracture is a break through the metacarpal bones that connect the ring finger or the little finger to the wrist. Now, here" he said, while pointing at the x-rays, "you can see that you broke your fourth and fifth metacarpals. It's not serious, but you will need to wear a splint until the swelling reduces and then a cast, to provide more protection."

"For how long?" Jesse asked.

"Three to six weeks."

"But she will fully recover, right?"

"Prognosis for these fractures is generally good. Swelling will be significantly reduced during the first two weeks, and hand exercises can be started after three." He made a small pause. "Do you have any questions? Any doubts?"

"You know what sucks?" She said, while rising her arm. "I'm a lefty."

"Ow, that's right! I forgot it." Jesse said. He was a lefty too, and he thought it was pretty bad luck she had broken that precise hand.

"Don't worry Beca, it'll only be for a few weeks."

After that they collocated the splint, which spread below her wrist. It wasn't as uncomfortable as Beca had thought, and she could still move her three remaining healthy fingers. The doctor asked her to return to the hospital the following week for another set of x-rays, and they left to reunite with their friends.

"Three to six weeks?" Chloe asked her, while taking a look at Beca's hand.

"Yep. The splint will only be for a couple of weeks, and then a cast."

"I definitely have to sign that."

"Of course you do."

And then, they got inside the car and departed the hospital.

* * *

 **Thank you to Joshifer4Everlark for the grammar corrections :)**


	20. A true leader

**A/N: Hi! Here's chapter 20. I'm sorry it took me a whole week to post a new chapter but I went on vacation and wasn't able to update from there. Hope you enjoy it, as always R &R :)**

* * *

A week after the showdown, Beca recruited a former BU Harmonics' member, a girl called Brooke with curly black hair who was in her late twenties, to fill the position left by Alice. She was very friendly and talented, and was the kind of person who got along with everybody. She had adapted very quickly to the team's dynamic, and although Beca had had some trouble with the choreography because of her broken hand, things seemed to be back to normal. However, Aubrey felt weirdly uneasy. As a woman who was pretty direct and had trouble concealing emotions and opinions, she knew she wouldn't feel comfortable until doing something she had been thinking of during the whole week.

After the Saturday rehearsal, Aubrey and Chloe drove back home. Aubrey had moved to Chloe's house temporarily as her house was at the booth camp she ran, near Rutledge, and it was very hard for her to travel three times a week to Atlanta from there. Chloe had been delighted with Aubrey staying at her house, both had been best friends since their freshman year at Barden and, as neither of them had siblings of their own, they loved each other as if they were. In fact, it was thanks to Chloe that Aubrey became a Bella in the first place, and it was something she would owe her forever.

"You coming?" Chloe asked her, when her friend didn't get off the car when they arrived home.

"I've got some things to do, but I'll catch on you later." Chloe shrugged and got inside, and Aubrey drove away. She was glad her friend hadn't ask her where she was going, as it was highly probable she would get very mad.

She drove all the way from Downtown to Brookhaven, a city located in the northeastern suburbs on Atlanta. It was a gorgeous place, an urban village with bakeries, restaurants, groceries and restaurants, besides one of the best neighborhoods in Atlanta. She parked in Windsor at Brookhaven, a luxurious apartment complex that reminded Aubrey of the place she used to live as a child with her father, in South Carolina. She approached the intercom and rang the doorbell of apartment 305. Alice's angry voice answered from the other side of the speaker.

"What the hell are you doing here, Aubrey? What do you want?" Alice knew it was her because she could see Aubrey from the camera located on the intercom.

"I would like to talk to you. May I come in?"

"You and I have nothing to talk about." Aubrey was prepared for that kind of hostility, and decided to try and maintain her firm stance for as long as possible.

"I come in peace. There are a few things I need to get off my chest, and I you are the only person who can help me with it." She made a pause for her words to have a greater impact. "Please, let me in."

For a few seconds, not a single sound came out from the speaker. Aubrey was afraid Alice would keep ignoring her. Thankfully for her, that didn't happen. A noise came out from the door and she entered the building, and the elevator took her to the third floor. Once outside the correct apartment, she knocked three times until Alice opened the door. The right side of her face was still bruised, although the swelling had reduced considerably a week after it was injured.

"Well, aren't you going to come in?" Alice asked her, impatiently. Obviously the whole situation was very uncomfortable for her.

"I see your face hasn't completely healed from the beating Beca gave you." Aubrey said, as she sat on a nice and obviously expensive sofa in the living room. Alice didn't take a seat, instead she stood in front of Aubrey with her arms crossed.

"I'm surprised I didn't break any bones." She made a pause, as if gathering her thoughts. "How is she, by the way? That hand of hers didn't seem in the greatest condition when I left."

"She broke it."

Alice looked at her with her eyes wide open.

"Really? Well, it seems fitting to me. Whenever my right cheek is in pain, I will remember that." She said, with a smile full of satisfaction.

"You know what? I think you should cut Beca some slack."

Alice started walking around the living room, uncomfortable.

"Why do you think I should?"

"Because Beca is actually a very nice girl."

"Really? She doesn't seem like the swet-and-kind type to me."

"That's because you don't know her as much as I do."

"Well, I have no interest in doing so." She said, while pouring herself a glass of scotch. Aubrey thought it was a little early for a drink, but chose not to say anything. After all, it was not her house. "I don't like Beca. As a matter of fact, I hate her."

"Why?" Aubrey asked, although she was sure she knew the answer. Suddenly, Alice struck her fist in the dining table.

"Because she destroyed my legacy!" Her face had turned red, and she could barely hide her disgust. "When I became the leader of the Bellas, the group was a complete mess. It had no rhyme and reason. I formed a new team from scratch, I gave it an identity. It took me four years, but I guided them to the top. I did what nobody else had done before. _I_ made the Bellas. And what did this girl do? She came with her DJ abilities and her giant headphones and took everything I had worked for, everything I had put my heart and time into and completely destroyed it until the Bellas became something I don't even recognize anymore. The Bellas are good because of me, and you know it better than anybody else." She made a pause because it was getting harder for her to breathe. "What the hell happened with the stubborn and reckless Aubrey that I used to know? You and I are the same, I don't understand how you can be friends with someone like Beca Mitchell."

"Alice…"

"I mean, she made all the girls turn their backs on you and made you look like the bad guy. For Christ's sake, she took the leader position away from you! How could you give up the pitch pipe so easily?"

Aubrey stood up from the sofa, determined to interrupt Alice's speech.

"Wait a second, that's not how things happened."

"Okay, then tell me how they did." Alice said, and defiantly sat on a chair. Aubrey took her time in order to tell the story the best way possible.

"Beca arrived to Barden with no desire of attending college, she only wanted to go to L.A. and become a music producer. Her father encouraged her to join a group from school to see if that made her change her mind, and because of her independent personality she was quite reluctant about it. When I first met her I immediately hated her because she showed no respect at all for what we did, and she was convinced the world of competitive a Capella was superficial and lame. However I took her in because of Chloe's insistence, and we were quite desperate for new members. Even after she became a Bella she continued with the same attitude, or at least that's what I wanted to believe. Eventually she started showing more interest in the group in the form of trying to make me loosen up the reins a little bit."

"That must had been very hard for you." Alice said, with her arms crossed.

"Yes, it was." Aubrey answered, with a smile. "I have always been a very controlling woman, and because of Beca's rebellious nature we clashed a lot. I thought she was trying to screw us up when the only thing she wanted was to make us better, and I made her leave the group after a fight we had. It wasn't until Chloe and the girls got some sense back into me that I realized I had been wrong all along."

"I can't imagine you accepting your mistakes." Aubrey decided to ignore Alice's words.

"Beca has many flaws, but she also has countless strengths. Her leadership skills and charisma are the perfect example. That's why I decided to give her the pitch pipe, because as long as I had it the group would remain stuck. I swallowed my pride for the first time in my life, and seeing where Beca took the Bellas I know I made the right choice."

"You don't say." Alice then stood up and turned her back on her. Aubrey approached her, although she kept her distance. She took a deep breath before continuing as she was about to make her point, the whole reason of her visit.

"If you don't want to like her then it's okay, I don't give a crap, but the least she deserves is your respect."

Then, Alice turned to see her face to face.

"And what has she done to deserve it? She practically beat me to death and humiliated me in front of everybody."

"Beca never does something without a reason, she has her temper and you provoked her by kissing her boyfriend. Even you have to admit you stepped over the line."

Alice was getting mad again, and Aubrey realized it was useless to keep arguing with such a stubborn person.

"Whatever, I don't even know why I accepted to talk with you." She then walked towards the door and opened it, clearly inviting Aubrey to leave. "I can't see what you see, and I definitely don't understand why you admire Beca so much. But then again, having a father who treated you like absolute crap I kind of understand why you have such an urgent need to look up to someone."

Alice's words got deep into Aubrey, like all the times someone mentioned her father. She didn't allow herself to show any sign of weakness and simply walked towards the open door. However, when she was beside Alice, she turned to say some final words right to her face.

"I once thought like you, but let me tell you something and I promise you'll never have to see my face again: you made the Bellas good, yes, but Beca? She made us great. I feel sorry for you, because your arrogance doesn't allow you to see beyond the end of your own nose. You were never a true leader, you were a tyrant creep who turned the Bellas into an army of monkeys. Beca is on her way to win another championship, and not even your intrigues managed to stop her. She is a fighter, a champion, a true Bella, and the best leader we've ever had. You on the other hand, are a sad excuse of a woman."

Having said that, she left the building leaving Alice in complete shock.


	21. An interesting offer

**A/N: Hi, here's chapter 21. Enjoy :) As always R &R.**

* * *

That Monday morning, at work, Beca was in a bad mood. She had burned herself with the stove while trying to make an omelet, the coffee cart outside _Residual Heat_ was closed, her head hurt because she didn't have a good sleep the previous night, and her favorite mug (one she had bought at a David Guetta concert) had broken in a thousand pieces. To make things worse, Jesse had gone to Minnesota to visit his dying grandmother (a nice and friendly old lady who adored her grandson's girlfriend) and her hand was really itchy because of the cast. She felt it was one of those days when everything was meant to go wrong.

Beca was heavily concentrated on trying to ignore the itch when her boss, Frank Sutherland, opened the door of the small office she shared with three other guys and peeked in. Beca liked Frank. Although they had gotten off to a rough start because of his rude ways, she managed to win him over thanks to her talent and hard work. He used to say she was the most talented person working at _Residual Heat_.

"Beca, you've got a second?" She nodded and followed him into the recording studio, which served as his office most of the times. He invited her to take a seat.

"First of all, how is that hand?"

"Oh, it's much better now. It itches like hell but the pain has eased, and I've started doing small exercises to regain mobility."

"That's great, I'm glad to hear it."

"Thank you, although I don't think that's the reason why you wanted us to talk."

He smiled, something that didn't happen often.

"You are right. Let's talk business, then." He started walking around the room, holding his hands against his back. "Do you know what _A &R _means?"

"Of course, _Artist and Repertoire_. It's a division of a record label."

"And do you happen to know what its job is?"

"Well, their employees usually are in charge of finding new talents. They do everything from assisting with song selection to choosing the people that will produce the album and where it will be recorded."

"Go on." Frank encouraged her, and made Beca feel extremely curious.

"They oversee the recording process, they'll find songs or songwriters in case the artist doesn't write its own music. Sometimes they help the guys from marketing with the promotion stuff and all of that. They basically act as a liaison between artists and the record label."

He looked at her, visibly satisfied.

"Very good."

"It's often considered the most glamorous and important department of them all." Beca's curiosity kept increasing, and it didn't go unnoticed by her boss.

"Okay, you are probably wondering why I'm asking you this." She nodded. "Well, here's the thing: I've been offered the position of A&R Coordinator in our headquarters at New York."

Beca looked at him with her eyes wide open.

"Will you accept?"

"Of course I will, what kind of question is that? This has been my dream for as long as I can remember. It's a golden opportunity, and I'm not willing to let it pass."

"Well, that's great! I'm happy for you. I really am, Frank. You are an extremely talented guy and I know you will make an excellent job, although I'm gonna miss you." She said, and truly meant it.

"Wait, I'm not finished yet."

"Oh, there's more?"

"Yes, I decided to save the best for the end." He looked at her straight in the eye. "I want you to come and work for me."

Beca felt so shocked that she had to suppress the urgent need to scream.

"To New York?"

"Yes."

"Are you serious?"

"Serious as a heart attack."

Beca stood up and started walking in circles, giving herself small taps on the cast.

"Well, that's something I wasn't expecting."

"I can assure you, you won't be presented with an opportunity like this in a long time. Maybe never."

"Why me? I mean, am I not too young?"

"You are, and precisely that's what makes you ideal for the job. You have an amazing potential, and despite your youth you stand out from the crowd. I've been watching you every day since you began working here. You are clever and ambitious, besides talented and determined. The only thing you need is experience, and New York can give it to you."

Beca was still shocked, so she tried to win as much time as possible.

"Do you really think I have a future there?"

"Are you kidding me? You are creative, besides quite adept into the business of music producing. You have a special talent for finding people's strengths, even when it doesn't seem they have one. As a matter of fact, you have already made your first big discovery." He was talking about Emily, who wanted to pursue a singing career after graduating. She had already recorded three of her songs thanks to Beca's help. "Believe me when I say you were born to be in A&R." He made a pause, while Beca kept making noise with the cast. "So, what do you say?"

Beca didn't know what to say, she felt extremely overwhelmed by the whole idea.

"I… I feel so grateful that you thought of me." He sighted, as if he already knew what she was going to say. "It's such a great honor, but I have to think about it. It's not an easy decision to make and I don't wanna rush it, if you don't mind."

"All right. I have to be in New York on June 8th, so I'll give you three weeks to decide –until the end of May. If you haven't given me your answer by then, I'll assume you are not interested and I won't insist. You'll keep your job as if nothing had ever happened."

"Seems fitting to me. Thank you Frank, I promise I will consider it." She said, and hugged him. She then left the room and when back to her office.

 _Well, that's one hell of a decision to make._ She thought as she walked away.

Suddenly, she wasn't in a bad mood anymore.


	22. A friend's advice

**Hi! Here's chapter 22. As always R &R :) Enjoy.**

* * *

That afternoon, as she exited _Residual Heat_ , Beca thought about the only time she had moved before, when she left her natal Maine to attend Barden University. Her mother had recently died, and her father had allowed her to stay in Portland until she finished high school with the sole promise that, when the time came for her to go to college, she would move to Atlanta. Although it had happened only 6 years ago, it felt like an eternity for the way her life had changed ever since. She hadn't cared about leaving Maine back in the day, as there was nothing left for her in that place. However, this time was different. She had her girls and Jesse, and she was worried about what would happen with their relationship if she went to New York. She knew he would follow her to the end of the world if necessary as long as she wanted it, but as she drove through the streets of Atlanta she thought that, maybe this time, it wouldn't be an option. His idea of attending Berklee had vanished as he didn't get a scholarship, and it was impossible for him to pay for the school. Instead, he had gotten a job at L.A. as an arranger for a local orchestra, and was set to start in the summer. It was a stable job and it would leave him good earnings, and he was very excited.

She unlocked the front door and entered her apartment. She threw her stuff on the floor and slumped, exhausted, onto the sofa, and spent the next couple of hours staring at the white wall. Her apartment was small, but somehow it seemed bigger when nobody else but her was there. Not a single noise could be heard in the room and it made Beca feel lonely, although solitude was not something strange for her. In fact, she had gotten used to it at a young age. As a kid, after her parents divorced, she had to stay long hours in her house all by herself while her mother went out with her friends and boyfriends, ignoring the fact that she had a young daughter at home who missed her dad and needed her more than anyone else in the world. Growing up, she started pushing people out and didn't bother with forming any kind of bond with anyone, and became a lonely and introverted girl. However, she wasn't that person anymore and didn't know if she could ever be like that again.

She texted Chloe at 10:30 p.m., but she didn't pick the phone. Instead, Chloe texted her back fifteen minutes later:

 _Sorry, left my phone in the car. Whadup?_

Beca answered right away:

 _Do you think you can come over tomorrow?_

 _I need to speak with you. It's important._

After a couple of minutes, Chloe answered:

 _Sure. R u ok?_

Beca didn't want to worry her friend, so she decided to give away as little as possible:

 _Yeah. I just need some to talk to._

Chloe sent her a thumbs-up, and Beca fell immediately asleep in the sofa.

* * *

"Beca?" Chloe was outside her friend's place, knocking insistently on the door. "Beca, it's me. I know it's early but you got me worried last night." She put her ear against the door to see if she could hear any noise coming from the inside of the apartment, but it was all very quiet. She looked at her watch, which read 6:50 a.m. Chloe realized it was a little too early for her sleepyhead friend, but decided to use the key Beca had hidden in a flowerpot beside the door in case of emergencies. She was surprised to find her sleeping in the sofa, still wearing the same clothes from the previous day.

 _She must have been very tired._ Chloe thought while taking a seat beside her. _She didn't even remove her shoes._

"Beca?" She put her hand on her shoulder and began moving it, gently. Her friend was a heavy sleeper, and it usually took a lot more to wake her up. Chloe started moving her more strongly, while calling her name in a louder voice. "It's morning already. Come on, wake up." After a few seconds without response, Beca finally started growling, upset. When she saw Chloe she startled.

"What the hell are you doing here?" She said, scared.

"You asked me to come."

"Did I?" Beca was obviously still sleepy. She stretched and rubbed her eyes, a little disoriented.

"Yeah. You texted me last night, you said you needed someone to talk to."

"Oh." Beca simply said. "How did you get in?"

"I used your super-secret key, the one you have hidden in the flowerpot."

Beca sat straight while Chloe went to the kitchen.

"What time is it?"

"Early. I'm gonna make you some coffee. You should take a shower."

While Beca showered, Chloe made her some waffles for breakfast. She was a pretty decent cook and knew her friend was a complete disaster in the kitchen. Twenty minutes later, Beca sat down at the table with her hair still wet.

"Wow. Thank you for this." She said, while grabbing her fork. "Don't you want some?"

"No thanks, I ate at home." Beca shrugged and started eating under Chloe's inquisitive eyes. "So, what's wrong?"

"Why do you think there's something wrong?"

"Because you don't call your friend in the middle of the night just to chat. Did you have a fight with Jesse?"

"No, Jesse and I are okay." Beca went quiet, as she kept eating. However, Chloe encouraged her to continue talking. "It's about Frank."

"Frank? Your boss?" Beca nodded. "What about him? I thought you liked him."

"He got offered a position in New York, he's leaving in June."

"Oh, I'm so sorry. I know how difficult it is to find a good boss. You must be really sad."

"Yeah. That's not the real problem."

Then, Beca told Chloe about Frank's offer to go to New York to work for him at _Residual Heat_ 's headquarters. As Beca spoke, Chloe's blue eyes opened more and more and her face got filled with surprise.

"Well, what do you think?" Beca asked, after she was done with her story.

"I think it's amazing! Beca, you should accept right away! This is a great opportunity for you, it's what you have always wanted. Why are you even thinking about it?" Chloe asked, utterly excited. Beca sighted.

"Jesse."

"Why is he a problem?"

"He has a job offer at L.A. as an arranger. It's not something big but his teachers encouraged him to take it, they say it will help him with the so much needed experience and connections, and he can climb up from there. He is really excited about it."

"Oh, I see."

"He's been waiting for this opportunity for a long time. I can't ask him to drop the job in L.A. to move to New York with me, because I know he wouldn't do it if he were in my place. It wouldn't be right." She stood up and started walking around the room. "I know it's stupid, I know it's not the end of the world, but… I don't want us to separate. I don't want to throw away what we have. It's been four freaking years!"

She began moving her hands vigorously, just like she always did when she was altered. Although she was wearing the cast, Chloe didn't want Beca to injure herself with such quick motions. She grabbed her friend by the arms to stop her from moving.

"Beca, you don't have to explain yourself to me. I'm pretty sure I know more than anyone else how much you two have worked on this relationship. Believe me, it's not stupid. Like you say, it's been four years. I know of marriages who have lasted less than that. You have something great going on here, and it wouldn't be fair to throw it all away without trying."

Gently, she released Beca from her grip. It had worked, as Beca seemed a little more calmed.

"What do I do? Seriously, I can't think about anything right now."

"That's because you are sad and you are worried. Luckily for you, I'm here." Chloe said, while pointing at herself with pride. "Now, I thought Jesse wanted to go to Berklee."

"Yeah, but the idiot sent his papers too late and he didn't get the scholarship."

"Well, good news is that Jesse could go to music school in New York. There are lots of great music and performing arts schools there, you have Manhattan School of Music, Eastman, Bard College… You have freaking Juilliard, for God's sake. You can't get much better than that."

"It's true, but you are forgetting something." Beca said, while sitting down at the table to finish her coffee. "What about the money?"

"I thought Jesse was a straight A's student, he can apply for a scholarship."

"It's too late for fall enrollment, he'll have to wait for the spring."

Chloe raised an eyebrow.

"I don't see the problem with that."

Beca looked at her with surprise.

"Really? You don't see the problem? We would be separated for at least six months, have you ever heard of a long distance relationship?"

"You went through a similar situation last year, Beca."

"That was different. It was only for a couple of months, not half year." She was starting to raise her voice, so Chloe decided to stop the rot.

"Okay, okay. Easy. I'm only trying give you some advice."

"And what would that be?" Beca said, while eating the last piece of her waffle.

"First of all and before accepting Frank's offer, I think you should talk to Jesse. I'm not saying you have to ask him for permission to go to New York, but like you said, it's been four years; you owe it to him. It's a matter of respect. I think I know Jesse well enough to know that he will encourage you to take the job. He only wants the best for you, as you do for him."

"What else?"

"Second, you should tell him about his options at New York. However I'm sure it won't be needed, he will probably realize them by himself. Tell him about Juilliard and Bard College, and convince him to apply for the spring semester."

"He still has the job offer at L.A."

"Well, he should accept it. He is gonna need the money when he moves to The Big Apple."

"But we will be in opposite sides of the country for at least six months."

"I think it's still better than breaking up for good." Chloe was right, as practically all the time, and her words made Beca feel a lot better.

"You are right."

"Wait, there's more." Chloe said, while gently rubbing her friend's cast in the spot she had drawn the Barden Bellas' symbol, a big letter _B_ in italics with a light blue background. "This kind of thing can really hurt a couple emotionally, but what you guys have is very strong and very special. Jesse loves you, and you love him, and I know you will find a way to solve this. Whatever happens I'm gonna be here for you, okay? And so will the girls." She said, and gave Beca one of her warm smiles. Chloe had the nicest smile Beca had ever seen in a person, and she felt so glad to have a friend like her by her side.

"Thanks dude, I mean it." She squeezed her hand and carried her plate to the sink to wash it. "Chloe?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you happen to know what time is it?"

"Quarter to eight."

"What?!" Beca screamed from the kitchen in horror. "Shit, I'm late!" She ran to the bathroom to comb her hair and then to her room to pick her bag. "Chloe, I'm sorry but I have to go to work. Don't worry, this house is your house, you're welcome to stay. Thank you for your help, see you tomorrow for rehearsals." She kissed her friend on the cheek and gave her a quick hug, and left the apartment running as fast as she could.

"Any time!" Chloe yelled, and drank the last of her coffee.


	23. The most important decision

**A/N: Hi, here's chapter 23. Enjoy :) As always R &R.**

* * *

Later in the afternoon that same Tuesday, Beca was lying in bed when she heard someone opening the front door. Immediately, she heard Jesse's joyful voice from the living room.

"Be-Caw, are you home?" She could never help but smile at the goofy nickname a drunk Jesse had given her almost 5 years back, at the aca-initiation night.

"Right here, weirdo!"

She looked up from the book she was reading at the exact moment Jesse burst into the room, and he threw himself in bed beside her. His playful ways always made Beca laugh, and she was thankful he hadn't changed a bit in all the time they had known each other. " _There's nothing better than a man who can make you laugh_ ", is what Stacie always said.

"How is my favorite person in the entire world?" He asked, after giving her a quick kiss on the lips. Jesse's eyes always lit up whenever he saw Beca, and it never failed to make her as happy as she never thought she could be. She knew it sounded corny as hell, but she didn't care. Jesse was her weirdo, and she was his freak, and that would never change. Or at least, that was her wish.

"I am pretty good, actually. How is Ada?" Jesse's grandmother had been very ill for a few months.

"She's not well. You know her lungs have been giving her trouble for quite some time now, and she is nearly 85 years old. She doesn't want to see any more doctors, she just wants to be at her house."

"I'm so sorry to hear that. How's Julia?" Jesse's mother was a chatty and friendly woman who smiled a lot and made the best chocolate pudding Beca had ever tasted.

"She's handling it. You know she's strong, she's been preparing herself for this for months."

"It's always hard to lose a parent." Beca knew better, as both her father and mother had died.

"Anyway, let's change the subject, shall we?" He said it because he knew how sad Beca got when she talked about her parents' deaths. "How are you? It's only been a couple of days but they felt like two weeks. Are there any news?"

"Well…" She wasn't planning to tell him about the job in New York until later, but she decided the sooner she told him, the better. "Yes, there are some news."

"Good or bad?"

"Good –great, actually, or at least that's how I consider them." She stood up to leave her book in a shelf. She took a deep breath and turned to see Jesse to the face. "I've been offered a position at the A&R department in _Residual Heat_ 's headquarters. In New York."

Jesse immediately stood up from the bed as well, his face filled with astonishment.

"When? By who?"

"Yesterday, it was Frank. He will become the new A&R coordinator in June, and he asked me to go work for him." Jesse looked at her, still in shock.

"Wow. I don't know what to say, it caught me completely by surprise."

"It caught me by surprise as well." A rather awkward moment of silence came next. Neither of them said anything, as if they were afraid of speaking their minds and opening themselves to the other. Jesse was the first one to break the ice.

"Well, what was your answer?"

"I didn't give him one. I said I would think about it."

"Why?"

Strangely, the whole situation was making Beca quite uncomfortable.

"Because of you."

"Because of me? Beca, let me ask you something." He approached her and took her hands into his. "I need you to be completely honest with me, all right? Like you have always been." She nodded. "Do you want to go?" He asked, while looking at her with his warm eyes.

"Yes." She answered without doubting it for a second. "It's a once in a lifetime opportunity for me. To be offered a position like this at my age is not something usual. I'm still young but I have my whole career ahead of me, this is just the beginning. My dream has always been to produce music, to make music. Will this work? I don't know. Will I fail? I don't know either, but what I know for sure is that I want to take the risk. I don't want to spend the rest of my life wondering about how everything would have been different if I had made a different decision."

Somehow it seemed as if Jesse was expecting that kind of answer from Beca, as he lovingly caressed her face.

"Then you should accept it immediately." Beca could tell Jesse's words were honest, but she also caught a glimpse of sorrow in his eyes that got deeply into her heart.

"But what about us?" She asked, with a shred of angst in her voice.

"What do you mean?"

She turned her head away from Jesse's hand, clearly distressed.

"What happens with our relationship? With what we have here? You and I have worked so hard for this to succeed. I don't want it to come to an end."

Jesse seemed confused, as if he had no idea what her words meant.

"Why are you saying that? It doesn't have to end! If you are saying it because of the L.A. thing, I can find a good job in New York."

"That could take you weeks, even months. The job in L.A. is something secure, it's as good as it gets."

"Oh, really? You think I'm incapable of finding something better?"

"Don't put words in my mouth, I never said any of that!" The argument was starting to heat quickly. Thankfully, they both became aware of it just in time and Beca lowered her voice. "I'm sorry." She said. She then realized she had yelled at him and felt terrible about it.

"Don't be." He reassured her. Jesse had never been the screaming type of person. "You are right. I could start looking for a job in New York and maybe I'll find something quick, but chances are it will take me a while." He sat on the edge of the bed with his hands covering his face. Beca sat beside him, but didn't dare to touch him.

"I have an idea. Well, it isn't actually mine, it's Chloe's."

"Chloe knows about this?"

"I needed to tell someone, and she's my best friend. Anyway, she says you should apply for the spring semester at one of New York's music and performing schools. Obviously, with a scholarship in mind."

"But even if I get in, we would still be separated for at least six months."

"She says it's better than breaking up for good." He didn't say anything, just stared at the wall as if he were gathering his thoughts.

"What about the job in L.A.?" He finally said.

"You should accept it. You are gonna need the money when you move to New York."

He took his eyes off the wall and looked at Beca, a slight smile forming on his face.

"Six months?"

"Yeah."

"We can pull it through. It will be hard but we have already done it before." He squeezed her right hand, which was resting on her leg. "Okay."

"Okay?" She asked, a bit incredulous.

"We'll do it. When the time comes you will go to New York and I will go to L.A., and we will have a long distance relationship –again. In the meantime, I'm gonna apply for the spring semester and seek a scholarship. Even if it takes me six months, a year or two, for as long as you want me by your side I will do whatever it takes to reunite with you in New York."

Somehow, Jesse made everything seem so easy.

"Seems like a good solution to me."

"So it's settled, then. I think you should call Frank." He said, with determination. Jesse's optimism was always contagious, and although Beca was sure he was as worried as she was for the imminent changes ahead of them, nothing could ever break his good spirit and courage. He stood up and went to the kitchen. "While you do it, I'm gonna make some dinner. I'm starving!"

Beca knew the conversation was over, so she picked up her phone and called her boss. His permanently angry voice answered from the other side.

"Yes?"

"Frank? Hi, it's Beca."

"What's up?"

"Listen, I've been thinking about your offer."

"You don't have to answer so soon, Beca. It has only been a day."

"Yes, I know you gave me three weeks, but I've made a decision."

"Oh, really? Well, I'm waiting. I hope it's a good one." She took a deep breath before giving the most important answer of her life.

"I accept."


	24. Finals

**A/N: Hi, here's chapter 24. Enjoy :) As always R &R.**

* * *

A week before the finals, Beca went to see Dr. Allen to have the cast removed from her hand. Moving her fingers again after a month and a half felt extremely weird, but she wasn't in pain anymore.

"How do you feel, Beca?" He had asked her out of precaution.

"Probably the same as I think all people feel after six weeks of not moving an extremity." The doctor gave her a fake severe look. "Relax doc, I'm fine. Seriously, don't look at me that way. It just feels a little weird, that's all."

"It's completely normal. Now, don't forget to do your exercises to regain complete mobility and strength." She nodded. "Well, I guess that would be all. Just remember, no more punching other girls' faces, okay?"

Beca laughed.

"Don't worry, I don't intend to do that ever again."

"Your hand is still fragile, so take it easy for a couple of weeks. I understand you have your competition next Saturday, but don't push yourself."

"I won't. Thanks doc." She said, and they both shook hands.

"Beca?" He called her, just as she was about to leave the room. "Bumper told me about the move to New York. I wish you the best of luck." Beca smiled at him, and left.

* * *

Beca had prepared something very special for the UNCCTC Finals. They were singing " _Starships_ " -a hit song from Nicki Minaj- and Aubrey, Lily, Chloe, Jesse, Cynthia-Rose, Emily, Benji, Fat Amy, Stacie and Beca herself were all soloing. They had modified the lyrics a little bit, removing the bad words and changing them for others that still made sense. It sounded great a cappella, and as it was going to be the last performance ever for most of the members of the team, it had to be one for the ages. Their rehearsals had gone great, although Aubrey and Bumper still hated each other as he kept teasing her about her nervous vomiting. The last few days of May, Beca began feeling nostalgic. After almost five years, her little adventure as an a cappella singer was coming to an end. She still remembered when she met Aubrey and Chloe at the activities fair, and they invited her to be a member of the Barden Bellas. A very smiley Chloe was quick to point out that they sang covers of songs, but without any instruments. _"It's all from our mouths!"_ She had said, proudly. She also mentioned how the Bellas competed all around the world and in national championships. However, a very skeptical Beca had mocked her asking if they did it on purpose, and that little conversation became her first ever dispute with Aubrey –one of many more to come. Little did Beca know that that awkward encounter would change her life forever.

They flew to New York on June 3rd, a day before the event, to have one final rehearsal at Lincoln Center. Beca wanted to live in Manhattan when she started her new job, but she soon realized she'd have to wait for a while for that as rent was very expensive. Instead, she had found a nice one room apartment in Newport, a community in Jersey City a few minutes away from New York. The man who lived there was moving to Baltimore but didn't want to sell his place, so he and Beca reached an agreement that proved to be satisfactory for both parts. She would earn good money at her job, so she was confident she could make it to Manhattan sooner than she thought.

The day of the finals, Beca arrived early to Lincoln Center to get ready. She hadn't been the only one, though, as she spotted the guys from Georgia Tech. She also saw Aubrey, who waved at her from a dressing room.

"Beca! I didn't think I would see you here until a couple of hours." Her friend had the habit of being early for everything.

"Hi, Aubrey. Have you been checking on the competition?"

"Not yet, but a friend from USC told me their lead got ill and won't be able to participate."

"Oh, shoot! I heard he has a lovely voice." Aubrey gave her a severe look. "What?"

They spent the next hour getting ready and chatting about their rivals. The final was set to start at 7:00 p.m. At about 5:30 p.m., they were joined by Emily, Jesse, Benji and Chloe, and a few minutes later by the rest of the team. As on previous instances of the competition, each member would be wearing something distinctive of the group they belonged to. The High Notes were wearing green shoes, The BUs their silver belts, the Trebles had their purple jackets and the Bellas had their scarves. Beca couldn't help but feel a small rush when she tied her scarf around her wrist, as it was the last time she would do it.

Once everybody was ready, they stood close to the scenery to watch the other groups perform. The guys from Berklee sang " _Lean On_ ", and the judges and the audience loved them. Beca didn't wonder why, their modern rhythm was captivating. Later, the USC team sang " _Bye Bye Bye_ " but their performance fell flat, maybe because their lead had to be replaced at the last second and the new guy didn't know the lyrics and choreography very well. On the other hand, the Brigham Young University proved to be a decent adversary, as they went back to the 90's by performing " _This Is How We Do It_ ". However, as Beca knew, the true challenge came when the boys from Georgia Tech took the stage to perform " _Can't Feel My Face_ ". Their smooth voices and perfect harmonies were to die for, and even when it hadn't been a great pick of a song, their performance had been so good that they got a standing ovation. Beca didn't say anything, she simply turned to see her fellows as they were the next team. This time she felt she had to say something special.

"I've never been very good at giving inspirational speeches, but this is no ordinary occasion. This will be my final performance, as it will be for most of us here today. I've got to say, if someone had told me ten years ago that being a part of an a cappella group would bring so much happiness into my life, I would have never believed it. I guess it's true that the best things come from where you least expect it." She then winked at Aubrey and Chloe, who smiled at her in return. "Let's just have fun, shall we? And if we win, we win; if we lose, we lose."

In that moment, she heard the master of ceremonies' voice through the speakers above them:

"And now, let's hear it for the Barden University!"

With a big smile on their faces, they went out. There were ten microphone stands perfectly distributed along the end of the stage. Emily, Jesse, Stacie, Cynthia-Rose, Aubrey, Fat Amy, Chloe, Beca, Benji and Lily were set to use them. The other guys had ear worn microphones, as they worked better when there was dancing involved. They took their positions behind them. As always, Beca waited for the audience to stop cheering to give the signal.

"One, two, three, four." She said in a whisper, and everybody started beatboxing.

Then, Aubrey took the lead.

 _Let's go to the beach, each_

 _Let's go get away_

Lily, with her soft voice, was next.

 _They say, what they gonna say?_

Then, a very cheerful Chloe continued.

 _Have a drink, clink, found the bud light_

And Beca, with her style, followed up.

 _Bad bitches like me, is hard to come by_

Then it was Jesse's smooth voice's turn.

 _The patron own, let's go get it on_

 _The zone own, yes, I'm in the zone_

And Cynthia-Rose arrived to change the tune.

 _Is it two, three? Leave a good tip_

 _I'ma blow off my money and don't give two…_

They all removed their microphones from the stands and started walking around the stage. Aubrey, Chloe, Jesse and Beca joined their voices for the bridge.

 _I'm on the floor, floor_

 _I love to dance_

 _So give me more, more, 'till I can't stand_

 _Get on the floor, floor_

 _Like it's your last chance_

 _If you want more, more_

 _Then here I am_

Then it was Emily's turn.

 _Starships were meant to fly_

And Benji was next.

 _Hands up, and touch the sky_

Then Beca.

 _Can't stop, 'cause we're so high_

And finally Fat Amy, with her usual charm.

 _Let's do this one more time_

The public was soon caught in their rhythm. Because of it, they began encouraging the audience to clap and sing along to their song.

 _Starships were meant to fly_

 _Hands up, and touch the sky_

 _Let's do this one last time_

 _Hands up..._

And Aubrey added some of her personal touch.

 _We're higher than a mother…_

They put the microphones back into the stands after they had switched positions and resumed their singing.

Lily.

 _Jump in my hoopty hoopty hoop, I own that_

Chloe.

 _And I ain't paying my rent this month, I owe that_

Cynthia-Rose.

 _But love who you want, and love who you like_

 _Dance all night, there's no end in sight_

Then, Aubrey and Chloe sang together.

 _Twinkle, twinkle little star..._

And then Beca.

 _Now everybody let me hear you say ray-ray-ray_

 _Now spend all your money 'cause they pay-pay-pay_

And Jesse.

 _And if you're a G, you a G-G-G_

And Cynthia-Rose.

 _Her name is Onika, you can call her Nicki_

Aubrey, Chloe, Jesse and Beca once again joined their voices for the bridge.

 _Get on the floor, floor_

 _Like it's your last chance_

 _If you want more, more_

 _Then here I am_

Aubrey.

 _Starships were meant to fly_

Cynthia-Rose.

 _Hands up, and touch the sky_

Chloe.

 _Can't stop, 'cause we're so high_

Stacie.

 _Let's do this one more time_

This time, the public already knew what they had to do. Their claps resounded in all the building.

 _Starships were meant to fly_

 _Hands up, and touch the sky_

 _Let's do this one last time_

 _Can't stop..._

They resumed their dance, cheerfully moving around the stage. Then, they all froze as the rythm slowed down.

 _Starships were meant to fly_

 _Hands up, and touch the sky_

 _Can't stop, 'cause we're so high_

 _Let's do this one more time_

And they started moving again.

 _Starships were meant to fly_

 _Hands up, and touch the sky_

 _Let's do this one last time_

 _Can't stop..._

Stacie.

 _We're higher than a mother…_

They all jumped and turned their backs at the audience, and at the exact time Stacie sang the last word, they turned their heads back at them in perfect sync and lights went out, thus ending their performance.

The public went absolutely crazy. So much, that it made Beca remember the Bellas' win at the Worlds the previous year. As on that occasion, Beca felt extremely overwhelmed. It would be the last time an audience would cheer on her that way, and she planned on enjoying it and cherish it in her memory forever.

"Beca?" She could barely heard Emily's voice because the loud noise.

"Yeah?"

"I think you are about to go three-of-three!"


	25. A dishonest apology

Unsurprisingly, the Barden Team won the tournament. Each member was awarded with 10,000 dollars and a gold medal, in addition to a cup for the Barden University trophy room. They returned to Atlanta that same night, and went out to celebrate. The fact that her last ever performance turned out to be a winning one made Beca extremely happy, and she felt she had fulfilled her duty to her school. She had indeed gone out with a bang, and the a cappella chapter in her life was over for good.

On the next day, a Sunday, Beca received a call from the least expected person in the world. Had she recognized the number that appeared on her phone screen, she would have never answered.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Beca." Alice's snobbish voice answered from the other side of the line. Beca grumbled and immediately tried to hang up, but Alice interrupted her. "Wait, don't hang up!"

 _I'm so going to regret this_.

"What do you want?" Beca asked, grumpily.

"I went to see your performance last night."

"You did?"

"Yeah. You were great, by the way; it was a well-deserved win. I just wanted to congratulate you on it."

Beca grimaced in confusion.

"Really?"

"Listen, I know I behaved like a bitch. You trusted me, you gave me an opportunity to be a part of the team and I screwed it up." She stopped talking for a brief moment to take some air. "Aubrey came to see me a few weeks ago and she said some stuff about you."

 _Damn Aubrey_.

"What kind of stuff?"

"She mentioned your leadership skills and your charisma as some of your strengths, besides the fact that you made the Bellas great. She said you were a fighter and a champion, and the best leader the Bellas have ever had."

"Wait, Aubrey said that?"

"You can ask her yourself."

Beca felt a rush of gratitude towards her proud friend.

"I didn't want to accept it back at the time," Alice continued, "but now I realize she was right. My ego was too big and I couldn't see what an amazing girl you are. I let you down and I would like to apologize for my behavior."

"Are you serious?"

"Yes."

However, there was something about Alice's voice that wasn't convincing her. It was monotonous, as if she were reading a speech that had been rehearsed a thousand times. Her tone was formal and too nice, besides the ass kissing was evident. Beca's gut told her it was not an honest apology.

"Well, I don't believe you."

"What do you mean?"

"I wasn't born yesterday, Alice. I can tell when a person is not being honest. Even if I can't see your face right now, I know you are lying. So spit it out, dude. What is it that you want?"

She heard Alice snorting and knew she had hit the spot.

"You think you are such a smartass, don't you?" She wasn't playing nice anymore, her true intentions coming to the surface.

"Well, I _am_ smart. Otherwise how would I have realized you had a secret agenda?" Beca was obviously teasing Alice for her to reveal the true reason behind her call.

"Hear me out, you ridiculous smurf: I want my name to be put on the plaque."

Beca frowned, confused.

"Plaque? I don't know what you're…" She then understood it. "Oh, you mean the one that is going to be unveiled at Barden's trophy room! The one that will have the names of all the members of the team, am I wrong?"

"I was a part of it for three freaking months, I deserve some recognition!" Alice's anger proved to be quite entertaining for Beca.

"Should I remind you that you were kicked out from the team because your little sabotage almost cost us a place in the Finals? How do you even dare to ask for some recognition, when all you did was mess around and trash-talk behind our backs?"

"Listen to me…"

"No, _you_ listen to me." Beca was determined to put an end to that ridiculous feud, once and for all. "And do it carefully, as I have no interest whatsoever in speaking with you again. You have no idea of what being on a team really means. You think that bossing people around and acting like a superior bitch all the time is going to make someone like you, but you are wrong. You think you are better than anyone else but you are just a pathetic little brat who enjoys intimidating others in order to get what you want. Well, guess what? You don't intimidate me, you never have and you never will. Your name won't be on the plaque because you don't deserve it, satisfied?"

"I will go to the Dean and the ICCA's board if necessary!"

The conversation was starting to get Beca tired. She yawned, making sure that Alice could hear it from the other side of the line.

"You know what? Go to the freaking President for all I care. Now if you excuse me, I have more interesting stuff to do than listening to you. Have a nice day, Alice, and please don't bother calling this number again, okay?"

She then hung up, knowing she would never have to hear Alice's annoying voice again in her life.

* * *

 **A/N: This was for you, "Guest". I hope you enjoyed Beca taking Alice down for one last time :) Thanks for reading!**


	26. Exciting news

Now that the UNCCTC had come and gone, Beca was free to set her mind on the next stage of her life: her big move to New York. She was very excited but scared at the same time, and also sad for leaving Atlanta after 6 years of living there. She was set to move on the 8th, which was a Wednesday, so on Monday she went to have coffee with Emily. Her friend had some news to share with her.

"Guess who got engaged?!" She screamed as soon as she saw Beca entering the building, and some people turned to look at them. Emily inmediately showed her the ring, a discrete but beautiful piece of jewelry that was shinning in her left hand. Beca didn't know a lot about rings, but she guessed it was a 0.5 carat diamond.

"Oh my God!" The news had caught her completely by surprise. "When did he ask you?"

"Yesterday. He took me to a romantic dinner with candles, music, exotic food, all of that stuff. Then, after dessert, he made the ring appear out of nowhere! How awesome is that?" Emily could barely hide her excitement, something not unusual for her.

"It definitely sounds like Benji."

"We will wait until I graduate, naturally, but I'm so happy that I feel like I could scream my lungs out!"

"I can see that!" However, Beca was a little concerned about what seemed like a rushed decision. "But Em, don't you think it's quite soon?"

"What do you mean?"

"You and Benji have been dating for only a year and you are already talking about getting married. You just turned twenty, aren't you too young?"

Emily couldn't help but laugh at Beca's concern.

"My mom said the same thing."

"I've always liked your mom." Beca said, and it was true. "Have you talked about where are you going to live? If you want to have kids? If your pet will be a dog, a cat or a freaking fish?"

"Beca, correct me if I'm wrong, but are you kind of unconsciously projecting your fear in marriage by asking me this questions?"

"What? No, no, no. You can't analyze me, Emily Junk. It's against the rules." Emily was majoring in Psychology.

"I'm not analyzing you, Beca, it's not as simple as that. We are just a couple of friends enjoying a nice afternoon together." A smirk appeared on her face.

"That's not the point of this conversation, okay? And for the record, I'm not afraid of marriage."

"Then why haven't you and Jesse tied the knot? He's been your boyfriend for four years, you live together, don't tell me the idea has never crossed your mind."

Beca wasn't going to discuss her relationship with Jesse in the middle of a coffee shop.

"Emily, focus! Let's get back to your thing, shall we?" Emily was about to say something else, but she stopped mid-sentence. She simply took a sip from her coffee.

"I appreciate your concern, Beca. I really do, but I am completely sure about this. Let me explain it to you." And then she leaned forward on her seat. "Whenever I have a bad day, Benji somehow manages to put a smile on my face. He is clumsy and socially awkward and a nerd, but he is a nerd that loves me. You have seen the way his eyes brighten up every time he sees me. He always has something nice to tell me. He understands me, he gets me..."

"Okay, okay, I get it. He's the perfect man." Beca interrupted her, with a smile. "Keep your pants on, dude. The only thing that matters here is that you guys are happy." She then stood up and hugged her friend, tightly. "Congratulations, Em. I wish you the best of luck. I can't believe you are getting married!" She said, visibly happy for her friend.

"I know! Hey, Beca, would you be my Maid of Honor?"

Beca looked at her with her eyes wide open.

"Are you serious?"

"Who else would I ask? I have no sisters of my own and you are my closest friend."

Beca felt extremely touched by Emily's gesture.

"Well, it would be my honor." She said, and they both hugged again. Then, they sat back on their chairs and ordered some food and coffee.

"You know, Beca?" Emily said after a while. "When I became a Bella you were the only one who saw me for who I was."

"What do you mean?" Beca asked, while eating a croissant.

"The other girls saw me as a legacy, but for you I was like any other girl. Just... Emily."

"Well, I think everybody deserves a chance to show what they're capable of."

"Yeah, I agree. Anyway, I just wanted to thank you for that."

"You don't have to, Em." However, it seemed as if Emily wanted to say more.

"Beca, you are the smartest, most talented girl I've ever met."

"Why do I feel like I've been told this before?" She joked. And it was true, as Fat Amy had told her the exact same thing a year before.

"Because it's true. I couldn't possibly have had a better mentor than you." Her friend was obviously saying her goodbyes, as Beca would leave for New York in just a couple of days.

"Emily…" She tried to stop her, as she wasn't very keen on emotional farewells. However, Emily ignored her.

"I mean it. And not just that, you are also the best leader the Bellas have ever had. I aspire to be like you, to live up to your legacy. I don't want to defraud you, that's why I'll do my best to keep the Bellas at the high spot you left them to me."

There was true emotion on her voice. Beca reached out her arm and took Emily's hand in hers.

"And I couldn't have left the Bellas in better hands than yours. But Emily, believe me when I tell you that you don't have to be like me to be a good leader. Be yourself! You are so full of talent, so full of life that I know you could never, ever possibly defraud me."

"You are really nice."

"It's all true. You have matured quite a lot since you took charge of the Bellas. Which remains me..." She said, as she took something out from her pocket. It was the Bellas' pitch pipe, the symbol of the leader's authority. Emily had given it to her months before, when they began the rehearsals for the new tournament. Beca tossed it at her friend, who began spinning it in her hand.

"I still haven't got the chance to blow this thing."

"Oh, you will, when you lead the new Bellas to future competitions. It's yours now, so take good care of it or Aubrey is gonna kill you, okay?"

"I'm gonna miss you so much, Beca." Emily was starting to get all emotional again.

"I'm gonna miss you, too. But I trust you will join me in New York once you graduate for us to keep working together." The thought of it made Emily feel better, and they continued enjoying their meal.


	27. One last song

On Tuesday, Jesse, Chloe and the girls threw Beca a going away party. It wasn't only for Beca, though, as most of her friends would be leaving Atlanta in the upcoming days. Cynthia-Rose was returning to Maine to her wife, Stacie was going to Colorado to work at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, Lily was moving to Paris to become an artist, Aubrey was going back to her boot camp in Rutledge, and Fat Amy was moving to Oakland with Bumper. Chloe and Emily would stay in Atlanta, although each one would be doing their own stuff. Chloe had lent her house for the party, and there were enough snacks and cans of beer for all the girls. Beca knew they wouldn't see each other again in a long time, and she thought it would be better to "live for the night", as Flo had said back in the day.

They spent the next couple of hours laughing and sharing anecdotes from days gone by. They talked about initiations, hood night parties, competitions, sliding down from staircases and yellow cups. They talked about that time they caught Stacie in the pool with her ex-boyfriend and nobody got in it for weeks, or how four of them would have their vocal cords ripped out by wolves because they broke the Bellas' oath. Practically nothing but the girls' laughter could be heard in the room. Jesse was having fun as well, although he was trying to give Beca and her friends their space to talk and enjoy themselves.

"Hey Chlo," Beca said, when they began talking about common enemies, "you'll never guess who called me on Sunday."

"Who?" Chloe said, while eating a pretzel.

"Your bff, Alice."

"Beca, you're gonna make her food taste bad." Aubrey warned her, and Chloe jokingly threw a pretzel at her.

"What did she want?" Chloe asked, with indiference.

"At first she was all " _I'm sorry for being such an asshole, you were right and I was wrong, you are the best leader the Bellas have ever had…_ " bla bla bla. However, I didn't fall for it. That's when she exploded and began demaning her name to be put on the plaque and all of that stuff."

Chloe and the girls laughed with contempt.

"Yeah, good luck with that." She said, and took a sip from her beer. Beca laughed as well, but she couldn't help but feel curious. There was something that had been bothering her for a while, and she thought it was a good time to have her questions answered.

"Chloe, can I ask you something?" Her friend nodded. "Why do you hate Alice so much?"

Aubrey moved in her seat, uncomfortable.

"You have met her yourself. She is annoying."

"Yeah, but I was wondering if there was something else to it."

Suddenly, the room went quiet. Obviously, Beca wasn't the only one who wanted to know the reason behind Chloe's hate towards Alice. Chloe didn't say anything, she just stared at her can with a strange look in her face. She then looked at Aubrey, and her friend squeezed her hand in support. Beca immediately felt guilty for asking, as the reason was obviously a painful one.

"I'm sorry, Chlo. I didn't mean to..." She began to say.

"No, it's okay." Her friend reassured her. "It's completely normal that you want to know." She sat straight in her chair, and drank a bit more beer to give herself some courage. "I will tell you."

She took a deep breath, and then started talking.

"There was this guy —Jeffrey, was his name. I met him in high school, in Florida. He was my lab partner and we shared a few classes together. Very smart, very charming, easy on the eyes, had a smile that could turn your legs into jelly. He played basketball, although he wasn't very good. Long story short, he was the kind of guy every girl has a crush on."

"Tell me about it." Stacie said, with a smirk.

"Naturally, I was crazy about him."

"But let me guess, his girlfriend was a super hot blonde who was also captain of the cheerleading squad." Emily was obviously making fun of the classic film cliché. Everybody laughed, including Chloe.

"No. As a matter of fact, he was not very good with women. He was a little shy and had no idea how to make a move on a girl. Anyway, on the first day of senior year, he asked me out on a date."

"Wow." Cynthia-Rose said, surprised.

"We were friends, we talked, we hung out sometimes, but nothing else. I had no idea he had a crush on me, it never crossed my mind. I mean, I wasn't Mia Thermopolis. I had my looks, but I was shyer back then. I couldn't believe a guy like him would set his eyes on me."

"It's like you are telling us a movie." Jesse said, visibly interested.

"Well, don't stop there!" Stacie urged her. "What happened next?"

"We went out on a couple of occasions, until one day he asked me to be his girlfriend. I said yes."

"Aww, cute!" Emily exclaimed, excited.

"I still remember how nervous he was when he did it. I was very happy, my heart was beating as fast as it could. We were a couple all of senior year, he even met my dad. I was afraid that it would all go to shit after we graduated, but I didn't care. I wanted to enjoy it for as long as I could."

"Yeah, it's not the same to have a boyfriend in high school than it is in college." Beca pointed out.

"Anyway, near the end of the school year, he told me he didn't want us to separate and that he would follow me to any university in the country."

"Which he did." Aubrey said.

"I had already chosen Barden so he applied as well. We both got accepted and we moved to Atlanta in the summer."

"How did it end?" Stacie asked, as direct as always.

"Excuse me?"

"We never met the guy, so I assume you two broke up at some point."

"Yeah. It was the night of the thunderstorm. Remember it, Aubrey?" Her friend nodded. "A Sunday, if my memory doesn't fail. May, freshman year. Aubrey and I knew each other already because we were roomates, and we were Bellas, too. She was very ill, what was it that you had?" She asked her friend.

"Bronchitis."

"Right. Anyway, she had told her professors and she was clear to skip classes for the next couple of days, but we still had to tell Alice. She would kick you out from the Bellas if you missed a rehearsal."

"You don't say." Beca could perfectly picture Alice as a tyrant leader.

"It had been raining all day long, and when the sun went down it was like freaking Halloween, with thunders that made the walls shake and lightnings that blinded you for a few seconds. We lost power in a couple of occasions. I tried to call Alice, but phone signal was very poor because of the storm. I went over to her room to talk to her in Aubrey's behalf." She then began talking slower. "I knocked three times but there was no answer. I noticed the door wasn't locked, so I opened it." She stopped to take some air. "When I got in, I saw Alice giving Jeffrey a blowjob."

All of the girls gasped. Jesse looked at Chloe with his eyes wide open.

"She was giving your boyfriend… a blowie? Like, for real?" He asked. Both Aubrey and Chloe nodded.

"Oh my God." Cynthia-Rose said, visibly shocked.

"What a skank!" Fat Amy exclaimed.

"Takes a lot of guts to pull something like that." Emily said.

"Road whore." Added Stacie, with hate.

"Well, he wasn't exactly a model of chastity himself." Aubrey pointed out. "She might have seduced him, but he accepted it. Took Jesse for example! Alice went all predatory on him and he never fell for it."

"Oh." Jesse managed to said. However, a thought suddenly crossed Beca's mind.

"Wait, wait, wait. Why didn't you tell me this when I asked you if she was the "I-will-try-to-seduce-your-boyfriend" type of bitch?"

"Because I didn't believe she would dare to do it again. Besides, I _did_ tell you she was a slut."

"What happened after?" Stacie was getting impatient.

"I broke up with him, naturally. We didn't speak to each other ever again, he couldn't even look at me in the eye."

"He didn't apologize?" Emily asked.

"No, he didn't have the guts. Eventually, he left Barden and went to Baltimore or something. Alice, on the other hand, spent the next two years pretending nothing ever happened."

"Let me get this straight: you caught her with your boyfriend's dick in her mouth and you didn't kick her ass?" Cynthia-Rose asked, incredulous.

"Confrontation wasn't really my strength. I thought about quiting the Bellas, but I decided not to. I wasn't going to give her the satisfaction."

"But you say she treated you like crap. Why didn't you defend yourself?"

"I guess I didn't want to get into trouble. It was only after she graduated that I started hating her… for real."

"You should have told us, Chloe. That way we would have hated her together." Emily said.

"Not that anyone actually liked her, but still..." Added Fat Amy, while drinking some beer.

"You know? Somehow I feel grateful towards her for what she did. Jeffrey cheated on me, and if he was doing it with Alice maybe there were other girls as well. Did I love him? Yes. Did he hurt me? Yes. I'm pretty sure his betrayal is the reason why I haven't had a stable relationship in eight years." Chloe said, and then went quiet, inmersed in her thoughts.

"Guys, what if we change the subject?" Aubrey said, uncomfortable. "We are here to talk about nice stuff, let's not ruin it by bringing Alice and that jerk into the picture. She's gone, so let's enjoy our evening. Shall we?"

They agreed and began talking about something else. After a while, beer started to run out.

"I'm gonna buy some more." Jesse told Beca.

"I'll go, don't worry."

"You stay with the girls. It won't take long." He winked at her and exited the place. Beca went back to her friends.

"You know?" Chloe said. "This reminds me of that night by the campfire at Aubrey's booth camp. Remember how we said our goodbyes?"

"Yeah." Said Beca. "We thought that was it. We thought the Worlds woud be our... what's the word you used, Chlo?"

"Swan song."

"Right. Who would say we would return to competing less than a year after?"

"It's insane. But now, it's really over. Unless we want to release a CD or something." They all laughed at Chloe's joke, although the atmosphere was starting to get nostalgic.

"Hey, what if we sing something like we did for that occasion?" Emily proposed.

"You wanna sing?" Beca asked, with a smile. All the girls cheered. "Let's sing, then."

"Which song?" Aubrey asked.

"I think Chloe should pick the song."

Chloe looked at Beca with surprise.

"Me? Why?"

"You are always the one who does it. Remember that time at the bus? " _Party in the U.S.A_ "? You made me sing a freaking Miley Cyrus' song. That time at the pool? You took the lead with " _Just the way you are_ ". Remember the first night at the boot camp? Fat Amy couldn't crap and she asked you girls to sing. You were the first one to do it. AND, last but not least, guess who began singing " _Cups_ " by the campfire."

The girls whispered to each other, and they all nodded and smiled in agreement.

"Really? I never realized it before." She sat straight. "What do you feel like singing?"

"It's your pick, but choose wisely. It will be the last song we'll sing in a while."

Chloe thought about it for a brief moment.

"Okay." She simply said. She cleared her throat and began singing.

 _I've heard it said_  
 _That people come into our lives for a reason_  
 _Bringing something we must learn_  
 _And we are led_  
 _To those who help us most to grow_  
 _If we let them_  
 _And we help them in return_

 _Of course she picked a freaking "Wicked" song_. Beca thought.

 _Well, I don't know if I believe that's true_  
 _But I know I'm who I am today_  
 _Because I knew you._

Suddenly, Aubrey joined her.

 _Like a comet pulled from orbit_  
 _As it passes the sun_  
 _Like a stream that meets a boulder_  
 _Halfway through the wood_

Then, the rest of the girls joined as well.

 _Who can say if I've been changed for the better?_  
 _But because I knew you_  
 _I have been changed for good._

They all looked at Beca, who was the only one not singing. She had only heard the song a couple of times, but she had an excellent memory and could learn lyrics pretty fast. She began singing in a very soft tone.

 _It well may be_  
 _That we will never meet again_  
 _In this lifetime_  
 _So let me say before we part_  
 _So much of me_  
 _Is made of what I learned from you_  
 _You'll be with me_  
 _Like a handprint on my heart_

Her voice was so sweet, so tender and so full of emotion, that none of the girls interrupted her. They had never heard her sing like that.

 _And now whatever way our stories end_  
 _I know you have re-written mine_  
 _By being my friend._

Finally, they joined her.

 _Like a ship blown from its mooring_  
 _By a wind off the sea_  
 _Like a seed dropped by a skybird_  
 _In a distant wood_  
 _Who can say if I've been changed for the better?_  
 _But because I knew you_  
 _I have been changed for good_

Then, as if they had rehearsed it a million times, they broke into two groups to sing the next part.

 _Like a comet pulled from orbit (Like a stream that meets a boulder)_  
 _As it passes the sun (Halfway through the wood)_  
 _Like a ship blown from its mooring (Like a seed dropped by a bird)_  
 _By a wind off the sea (In the wood)_

And they joined their voices again for the final bit.

 _Who can say if I've been_  
 _Changed for the better?_  
 _I do believe I have been_  
 _Changed for the better_  
 _And because I knew you_  
 _Because I knew you_  
 _Because I knew you_  
 _I have been changed for good._

After they were done, nobody said anything for a while. There was an absolute silence in the room.

"It was my pleasure, awesome nerds." Beca finally said.

Suddenly, they heard a noise coming from the front door. It was Jesse, who had just returned from the store.

"Here you go, ladies." He said politely, while giving each of the girls a can of beer. After that, they resumed their conversation and kept on laughing and teasing each other, like always.

"Your boyfriend is a dreamboat. You know that, right?" Stacie said to Beca. She was already a little tipsy.

"Yeah, I know." Beca answered, with a smile.

"Don't let this one go."

 _Oh Stacie, as appropriate as always._

* * *

 **A/N: Hi everyone! So we are getting near the end of the story, but I wanted to ask you if you prefer the final chapter to be a long one or if you would like me to break it into three smaller ones. I have already written it, so it's your pick :)**


	28. Don't you forget about me

**A/N: Hi! So this is it, guys, final chapter :( This is my first ever fic and I'm so happy that it got received so well. It first came to me three months ago, and to be honest, I had my doubts about publishing it. Maybe because I was scared people wouldn't like it, or perhaps I was sure I wouldn't be good at writing fanfic without having any previous experience. Whatever it was, I'm glad I plucked up courage to publish my story. I wanna thank all of you who read it and got involved with it. Thank you for your lovely comments and your suggestions. Although I had most of the story planned from beginning to end, sometimes I had to make a few modifications that seemed appropiate. I hope you didn't get bored at some point, and I'm sorry if you ever did. I'm already breaking down three more PP stories, and I have hopes that because of your lovely reviews and suggestions they will be better than this one :) Thanks to** **Joshifer4Everlark for correcting my mistakes.** **Hope you enjoy it!**

* * *

"I think we should do something." Beca told Jesse. It was almost midnight, but none of them felt like sleeping. They were in the couch, arms crossed and staring at the white wall ahead of them. Emily had just dropped them at their apartment because she was the only one that hadn't had anything to drink that night, so she drove everybody home safe and sound.

"Like what?"

"Like... anything!"

"Maybe we could go to Waffle House."

"We need the car to get to Waffle House, and we aren't precisely sober right now."

"We could walk."

"Ten blocks?"

"It's a lovely night."

Beca laughed. Obviously, Jesse didn't know what he was saying.

"I am drunk, and so are you."

"Nah, you and I don't get drunk. We are buzzed at best." Beca had an amazing alcohol tolerance, even when she rarely went to any parties. However, that night they both had drank a little more than usual, and they were really drunk at the current time.

"Should I remind you our first aca-initiation night?"

He was going to say something to her, but stopped mid sentence.

"You're right, it was a terrible idea." And they went quiet again.

"This is depressing." She said after a while.

"Do you wanna watch a movie?"

Beca grumbled with disgust.

"Jesse, come on! These are the last hours we will be spending together in at least six months. I don't feel like watching a freaking movie."

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." He said, with a guilty tone. "My brain isn't fully working right now, I don't even know what I'm saying." He leaned forward in the couch, and Beca had to grab him by the shirt to stop him from falling face first. "It's just..."

"What?"

"I feel very sad."

"Oh God." She muttered. It wasn't very common to hear Jesse say stuff like that, as he was a rather optimist person. "No, no, no, don't you get all sad drunk on me."

"Then do something to make it stop." He said. Beca could have swore she saw a tear trying to release itself from Jesse's eye. She forced her brain to think of something to distract him –and her as well. She stood up, not without some difficulty.

"I have the perfect solution." She went to their room and took out her laptop from its case. She turned it on and made a few clicks.

"What are you doing?" Jesse asked from his spot in the couch.

"Wait and see." She answered. _I don't remember this stupid screen being this bright._

"Beca…"

"Shhh!" Then, a song began playing from her computer.

 _Hey, hey, hey, hey_

Jesse inmediately raised his head.

"Really?" He asked her, with a drunken smile.

"Oh, yes. "

"I thought you hated that song!" He had to yell in order to make his voice heard above the loud music.

"Yeah, well, sometimes you have to make sacrifices for the people you love. Besides it's our song, you said it yourself!"

She was dancing and playing air drums (or that's what it seemed like, anyway), although her movements were clumsy and off-rhythm because of the alcohol in her system.

"This isn't a song you can dance to!"

"But we can sing!"

That being said, she began singing.

 _Won't you come see about me?_  
 _I'll be alone, dancing, you know it baby_  
 _Tell me your troubles and doubts_  
 _Giving me everything inside and out_

 _And love's strange so real in the dark_  
 _Think of the tender things that we were working on_  
 _Slow change may pull us apart_  
 _When the light gets into your heart, baby_

Ironically, the song was proving to be pretty appropiate for their current situation.

"C'mon, weirdo!" She encouraged him. Alcohol always made her uninhibited.

"You will regret this in the morning!" He said, while standing up. He walked towards her and began singing while playing air guitar.

 _Don't you forget about me_  
 _Don't, don't, don't, don't_  
 _Don't you forget about me_

 _Will you stand above me?_  
 _Look my way, never love me_  
 _Rain keeps falling, rain keeps falling_  
 _Down, down, down_

 _Will you recognize me?_  
 _Call my name or walk on by_  
 _Rain keeps falling, rain keeps falling_  
 _Down, down, down, down_

They were screaming rhythmically rather than singing, but they had a great time while doing it. Although they were both excellent singers, they rarely sang together, mostly because Beca didn't consider her voice to be very good and Jesse felt more comfortable while playing an instrument.

 _Don't you forget about me_  
 _Don't, don't, don't, don't_  
 _Don't you forget about me_

 _As you walk on by_  
 _Will you call my name?_  
 _As you walk on by_  
 _Will you call my name?_  
 _When you walk away_

Without noticing it, they moved from the living room to the bedroom while singing the song. When the time came for them to raise their fist, Jesse lost his balance and fell backwards. It wasn't a hard hit, but practically no one in his condition could stand up after falling to the ground. Beca tried to help him, without success.

"Listen... Becs." He told her, altough he could barely string two words together. "You be... great, okay? You be better... than anyone... else. I... trust you will be... running the place... by the time... you are... thirty. Otherwise... I will get mad." He then smiled at her. His eyes were slowly closing. "Never take a step backward... not even... to gain... momentum. I know I'm not worth it... but don't you... forget about me... because I won't. Do you understand..." He couldn't finish his sentence, as he inmediately passed out in the ground.

"Jesse?" She called him, but he was already snoring. _Well, this idiot will have to sleep in the floor. I can't lift him._ She pulled a blanket from the bed and covered him as best as she could, although she was almost passed out as well. Beca tenderly kissed him in the forehead. She then managed to climb into bed and fell asleep right away.

* * *

When Beca woke up the next morning, she had a terrible headache. She yawned a couple of times and streched, as she slowly sat up in bed and looked around, disoriented. It took her eyes a while to adjust to the light that was coming from the window. Once she was fully awake, she took her phone from the nightstand to check the time.

 _Half past eight. Good, I've still got time._

She stood up and kneeled in the floor beside Jesse, who was still sleeping. His baby face looked even more tender when he was resting.

 _Why do you think I will forget you, huh?_ She thought as she gently rubbed his cheek. _What did you mean with that?_

He growled in his sleep. Beca decided she would let him rest a little longer, so she went to the bathroom to take a quick shower to eliminate the smell of alcohol from her body. After she was done, she got dressed really quickly and went out. She walked through the streets of Atlanta to Chloe's house, something that wasn't unusual as both friends lived relatively close to each other. Once she arrived, she rang the bell three times. After a brief moment, her friend opened the door.

"Beca?" Chloe's hair was messy and her eyes weren't completely open. Clearly, she had just gotten up. "What are you doing here? I thought you would be in New York by now!" She was also holding a cup of coffee in her hands.

"You think I would leave without saying goodbye?"

Chloe looked at her, visibly moved.

"You know, I would hug you right now but I'm afraid beer is coming out of my pores. You clearly just took a bath, I don't want you to stink."

"Thank God Emily didn't drink and could drive us all back home."

"Girl's still in college, she's responsible."

"Yeah, I'll give her that."

Chloe looked over Beca's shoulder.

"Where's Jesse?"

"He's sleeping. Last night we both passed out, I don't know how I woke up."

Chloe laughed.

"Please tell me you didn't sleep on the kitchen floor."

"Not me, but Jesse definitely did. Although it was in the bedroom rather than in the kitchen. I guess he'll be awake in a couple of hours."

"Hey, do you wanna come in? If people see you, they're gonna think you are selling me bibles."

"Okay. But just for a minute."

They both went inside. Chloe lived in a two-story house that she had inherited from her maternal grandfather. The house was big and spacious, and she had managed to give it a modern look thanks to her creative mind. White furniture gave it an elegant look, and plenty of light came in through the large windows. They both sat at the kitchen bar stool, and Chloe poured some coffee in a cup for Beca.

"Is Aubrey still out?"

"Yeah. The girl drank her weight in beer. I can wake her up if you want, I have done it before."

"No, no, no. Leave her rest." Beca said, and took a sip from her coffee. Both girls went quiet for a moment.

"How are you, Beca?" Chloe asked after a while. Beca sighed.

"You want me to be honest?" Her friend nodded. "I'm excited for the most part, but also damn scared."

"It's good to be scared. It means you still have something to lose."

"Who says that?" Beca asked out of curiosity, as the quote seemed familiar to her.

"Richard Webber."

 _That explains it._ Chloe was obsessed with Grey's Anatomy.

"You should start taking advice from real people, Chlo."

"Beca, listen to me." Chloe said, ignoring her friend's words. "You are gonna be okay. It may be difficult at first, but you always adapt. You do great with change." Beca didn't say anything, she just stared out the window. "You won't have a problem getting used to a new job, or a new city, or new people. Come on, let me see some optimism!" She said, and friendly hit her on the arm. Beca forced a smile, although she didn't possess her friend's optimistic nature.

"You know, Jesse said something last night that made me feel a bit uneasy."

"What did he say?"

"He said, and I quote: _"Don't you forget about me, because I won't_.""

"Oh, really?" Chloe asked, as she stirred her coffee.

"He was just rambling but I can't help but think he was saying goodbye. Not in the "I'll-see-you-soon" way, more like "Be-happy-and-fulfill-your-dreams"."

"Like you guys would never see each other again."

"Yes! What the hell is that supposed to mean? Why does he think I will forget him?"

"Well, he was drunk. Men get all emotional when they are in that state."

Beca snorted, annoyed.

"Seriously? You don't have anything else to say?"

"I'm not very good with subtext, Beca, that's Emily's forte. I'm just a 26 year old with a History Major that loves cake too much and earns her living by teaching children how to sing."

"Please, Chlo."

Chloe scratched her head, trying to gather her thoughts.

"Okay, here's the thing: the music industry can be tricky and ocassionally creepy. I think Jesse is afraid that once you are in New York, doing your stuff, living the good life, you will get dragged into that world and, eventually, you'll forget him."

"What?" Beca exclaimed, incredulous. "Come on!"

"Lots of people have difficulty keeping their feet on the ground when they meet someone famous, orwhen _they_ become famous. You wouldn't be the first person to fall for the glamour and all of that. "

Beca was going to fight Chloe's argument, but an invisible force kept her from doing it.

"You think I would?"

"Honestly? No, I don't."

"Why?"

"Because you are very focused, very leveled, very smart. You don't give a crap about money or stardom, you just do your think and immediately move onto the next level. However, Jesse's fear doesn't seem unreasonable to me. He loves you, and he doesn't wanna lose you. He knows this is what you want, and he won't get in the way. That doesn't mean the thought of losing you isn't scary."

Beca didn't say anything, she just leaned back in her chair, reflecting on her friend's words.

"What do I do?" She asked, with a shred of desperation.

"That's up to you." Beca could have sworn she heard her late dad's voice coming out from Chloe's mouth.

"You sounded just like my dad."

"He was my teacher, after all." Dr. Mitchell teached Comparative Literature, which used to be Chloe's favorite class when she was in college.

"I don't wanna lose him, either."

"You don't have to." Chloe said, with a smile. They both finished their coffee in silence. After she was done, Beca took the empty cup to the sink.

"Well, I guess I gotta go. I don't wanna start off on the wrong foot by missing my plane."

"Yeah, tell me about it. I _always_ miss them!"

Chloe accompained Beca to the front door. Once there, she surprisingly hugged her as tight as she could.

"I thought there was beer coming out from your pores!" Beca joked.

"I'm gonna miss you so much, Beca." Chloe said, with a choked voice. Beca hugged tighter.

"I'm gonna miss you, too. But hey," she pulled her friend apart to see her in the eye, "now you have the perfect excuse to go to New York, what you have always wanted."

"I'll try to visit you before Christmas, okay?"

"Okay."

"And call me as much as you can, I wanna know all the juicy details of your new co-workers."

"I will." They hugged one last time. Then, they broke the hug and Beca walked away, while Chloe stayed by the door frame. When Beca was about to turn in a corner, she heard her friend's voice calling her from a few feet behind.

"Hey, Beca!"

She turned to face her.

"Yeah?"

"Take care or yourself, and good luck!" Chloe waved at her, as a sign of goodbye. Beca did the same thing.

"You too!"

* * *

When Beca arrived at her apartment, she was surprised to see Jesse was already up and bathed. There were some empty boxes scattered around him.

"Hey, you!"

"Hi, weirdo." Jesse greeted her with his usual enthusiasm. "Where were you?"

"I went to Chloe's to say goodbye. I'm sorry, I didn't tell you because I wanted to let you rest."

"Don't worry, I just woke up like twenty minutes ago. By the way, you let me sleep in the floor." He said, with fake reproach.

"Dude, you are 5'10" and weigh 170 pounds, do you really think I could have lifted you? Besides, we were drunk. I can barely lift my own bag when I'm sober."

"All right, all right. Don't get mad at me, I already have a headache." He said, while giving her his puppy eyes. There was nothing Beca could do but smile when he looked at her like that.

"What's with the boxes?" She asked out of curiosity.

"I was about to start packing my stuff."

"But you don't move until Saturday."

Jesse shrugged.

"I have nothing else to do." He then rubbed his hands as if he was getting ready for something. "So, is there anything else left for you to pack?"

"Only my clothes, unless you have already packed them for me."

"You know I never go through your stuff without your permission." Beca gave him one of her severe looks. "What? It's a matter of privacy."

"It's not like I have something ultra-secret kept in there. Besides, you have already seen it all." She sighed.

"Well, while you finish packing, do you want me to take these to the car?" He pointed at Beca's laptop case and the bag in which she had her DJ console, her most valuable possessions.

"What if you help me take out the stuff that's still in the closet?"

"Okay." He said, and they both went to the bedroom. Jesse began unhanging Beca's jackets and her one coat, while she took out her clothes from the drawer and put them in a black bag. However, her mind was far away from there.

"Jesse?"

"Yeah?"

"Last night you said something to me when you fell to the ground."

"Did I? Well, I hope it wasn't something embarrasing. What did I say?"

Beca hesitated before answering.

"Never mind." She finally said. "It wasn't important."

"Seriously?"

She nodded.

"You were just rambling, that's all." She reassured him. "I'm hungover, don't listen to me."

"Okay." He shrugged and resumed his doing.

"I'm done." She said after a few minutes in silence.

"Me too." Jesse carefully placed Beca's clothes in the black bag.

"Are you sure?" She asked him, with a suspicious tone.

"Positive. Why do you ask?"

Beca took a nearby chair and stood on it. She looked inside the closet and leaned forward to grab something that Jesse couldn't see because it was in a corner. After some struggle she finally reached it, and stepped down from the chair. She had a medium-sized box in her hands, all wrapped up in blue wrapping paper.

"You missed this." She showed him the box.

"What is this?"

"It's your birthday gift!" She said, with enthusiasm. Jesse looked at her, slightly confused.

"But my birthday is not until September."

"I know, but I won't be around by then. I thought it would be a good idea to give this to you today."

"Well, thank you!" He exclaimed, excited. He began unwrapping it, but Beca's hand stopped him.

"Don't open it!" She reprehended him.

"Why not?"

"You said it yourself, it's not your birthday yet."

"You mean I'll have to wait three months to know what's inside? No way!" He protested.

"Please Jesse, I promise you will like it. Just wait a little longer, okay? Remember that all good things to those who wait."

"But Beca..."

"Please?" She then gave him her own version of puppy eyes. Jesse looked at her, and then at the box. He repeated the action a few more times. Finally, he sighed in defeat.

"All right. I'm not gonna open it until my birthday."

"You promise?"

"Yeah, I promise. If that makes you happy."

Beca leaned forward and kissed him. It was a very soft kiss, quick and casual. Routine even, but really sweet.

Suddenly, she pulled apart.

"Dude, what time is it?"

He took a look at his watch.

"Ten to eleven."

She looked at him with terror.

"Oh shit, I'm gonna be late!" She closed her bag and took it to the living room. "Do you have your keys? Where the hell is my passport?"

"Right here." Jesse handed it to her. "You asked me to keep it."

"Right." Beca took the passport and quickly stuck it in her purse. "Too bad we didn't have any goodbye sex!"

"But think about what's gonna be like when I join you in New York." He mischeviously smiled at her. She winked back at him.

"I'm really gonna miss you, Jesse."

"Me too. I'm gonna miss you when you are gone."

"It actually is _you_ are gonna miss me when _I'm_ gone, but I get your point."

"In a more serious note," he said, and suddenly grabbed her by the hands, "you have to kick ass in there. You learn new stuff and you have lots of fun. And remember to call every week or I'll get worried, okay?"

Beca tightly squeezed his hand as a sign of agreement. She wanted to say something, but words got stuck in her throat. She felt the urgent need to cry, but managed to containe it.

"Are you ready to go?"

She breathed deeply.

"Ready."

He helped her take her luggage to the car. Beca gave one last look at the aparment where she had lived for the past year. Then, she walked away without looking back.

 _Okay, let's do this._

* * *

 **A/N: Okay, so here's the thing: originally, this fic wasn't supposed to end here. I'm sure you have already noticed that I'm a die-hard Jeca shipper. I'm aware there are lots of people out there who aren't a fan of them as a couple. I don't mind with that, we can all ship whatever we want and play in the sandbox together :) However, I don't want to make you read stuff that doesn't interest you. Because of this, I'm gonna publish what happens with Jesse and Beca as another story -after all, this one is named "The new tournament", and they have already won it.** **I'm not sure when I will publish it as junior year started this week and being in college claims lots of your time, but I promise you I'm gonna do whatever it is in my power to bring it to you as soon as I can (well, except failing a class three times).**

 **Thank you again for reading "TLT" :)**

 **Oh, by the way, special thanks to those of you who said this is how PP3 should be like. You made me blush :***


End file.
